Harry Potter and the Golden Amulet
by Cutegirl612
Summary: Harry is suddenly visited one day by Lupin and Ron. What is going on in the wizarding world that he was taken back to Grimmauld Place so early and why is there a girl staying at Grimmauld Place? Chapter Nine update
1. Chapter One: Leaving Early

Chapter One: Leaving Early  
  
While many other sixteen-year-old boys were elated for it to finally be summer and totally bummed at the current status of the weather- one boy wasn't. In fact, he preferred when it rained and he absolutely hated summer holiday.  
  
It was three o'clock, yet outside it was dark as if it was midnight. Rain poured down and fiercely hit the window he was leaning on. A steady clinking of iron was heard in the next room, which meant Dudley was lifting weights again. Down in the parlor, Uncle Vernon was lazily watching TV while Aunt Petunia was making afternoon tea in the kitchen. Harry Potter, however, continued to gaze out the window. He was waiting for the latest issue of the Daily Prophet. There had been a new article almost daily since the wizarding world had decided to recognize the existence of Lord Voldemort. Even with the Ministry somewhat accepting the Dark Lord's return, many of wizards and witches still disputed Voldemort's return. Harry always scoffed at the articles that remained ignorant to the current threat of Voldemort.  
  
With the muggle news reporting nothing out of the ordinary, Harry was left patiently waiting for the Daily Prophet. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning lit up his room as it struck a nearby telephone pole. Immediately, all the lights went out on Privet Drive. Harry didn't pay any attention to the sudden darkness around him. He liked his room dark anyway, that way no one would bother him. In fact, most of Harry's days were spent sitting alone in his dark room, thinking. Thinking and fretting seemed to take up a lot of Harry's time. Occasionally he sent owls to his friends but his messages always seemed short and dull because there wasn't much he could write. One of Moody's greatest warnings had been of intercepted letters. Rarely, was there a response to any of the letters he wrote anyhow and when there was, Harry poured over the letters searching for hidden messages within each written line. He hated the Dursleys and he hated staying at their house for the summer.  
  
A knocking on his bedroom door interrupted his thoughts. Dudley poked his head into the room and smiled weakly. Harry nodded his head and Dudley came in and sat on Harry's bed. Since last summer, Dudley's attitude towards Harry had changed. In public, Dudley continued to torment Harry as usual. At the house, however, things were quite different. Dudley was petrified of Harry and didn't believe anything Harry had said about the Dementors that had attacked him the summer before. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia hated to see Dudley even in the same room as Harry, but Moody's warning plagued them every time they looked in Harry's direction. It made them despise him even more, yet they were too paralyzed with fear to do much about it. As a result, Harry was able to come and go as he pleased. To the Dursley's delight, he stayed in his room most of the time.  
  
"Got your newspaper yet?" Dudley asked.  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"Oh. You, uh, don't happen to have yesterday's do you?" Harry turned around abruptly.  
  
"Second drawer, lift out the false bottom." Harry answered, pointing to his desk. Dudley picked up the newspaper and felt his way to the bed. Harry just stared at him in disbelief. He never even realized that Dudley had been stealing his papers all summer.  
  
"Since when do you read these?" Harry said, talking to the dark shape he assumed to be Dudley.  
  
"Since always. Can you, uh, do that light thing?" Dudley asked, shocked at himself for even mentioning the use of magic.  
  
"Can't, still underage," Harry rolled his eyes. "There are candles in that drawer over there." Harry turned around and kept staring out the window. 'Why is Dudley reading my paper?' he thought to himself. Harry glanced back at Dudley, who had set up the candle on his dressing table and was reading as close to the light as he could. There was an urgent tapping on the window and Harry turned around and opened it. In flew two owls. One was Hedwig, his own owl, and the other was delivering his Daily Prophet. He took the Daily Prophet and gave the owl two coins. It flew back out the window and Harry slammed it shut. Harry quickly skimmed the front page checking to make sure there was no major news regarding Voldemort and then walked over to Hedwig and untied the letter from her leg.  
  
Harry quickly unfolded the letter that was obviously from Hermione.  
  
'Dear Harry,  
  
How are things going where you are? I am currently on holiday in Rome. It's so beautiful here. The sun is out almost every day. (Harry snorted as he glanced out the window.) I hope everything is going better. Don't stay too upset. I just wanted to say happy Birthday one day in advance, although I'm not sure when you'll get this. You'll get your present when I see you at the house. Don't worry, that will be soon.  
  
Guess what? Lucius Malfoy's going to jail- for now anyway. There's a whole article on it in the Prophet. I'm not sure if you get it, so I sent the clipping for you to read. Good luck with your summer work and see if you can find out who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher is! Don't neglect your studies!  
  
Best Birthday Wishes, Hermione'  
  
Harry stared at the letter. Tomorrow really was his birthday. His sixteenth birthday to be exact. He had forgotten. Well, not that he was turning sixteen, just that he was turning sixteen tomorrow. But another part of the letter stuck out as well. What did Hermione mean by 'the house'? Did she mean the Burrow or 12 Grimmauld Place? Thinking about Grimmauld Place reminded Harry of Sirius and he immediately crumpled up the letter and threw it into a corner. Then he went back to leaning against the window.  
  
Footsteps could be heard on the stairs and Dudley took both newspapers and shoved them under the bed. The he picked up the candle. Harry retreated to the darkest, farthest corner of his room.  
  
"Dudley, Dudley are you alright? Duddykins where are you?" Aunt Petunia called out, worriedly.  
  
"I'm in here, mum." Dudley opened Harry's door. Harry grunted and turned around so he couldn't see the doorway.  
  
"What on EARTH are you doing in there?" Uncle Vernon said harshly, but he didn't dare step any closer to the already opened door.  
  
"Just bringing a candle into Harry's room, he got frightened by the blackout." Harry snorted. Uncle Vernon peered into the dark corner, and then took a few steps back.  
  
"How kind of you Duddys," Aunt Petunia said. Her fake smile almost seemed to shine through the darkness. Harry could hear the phoniness in her voice. "Remember Vernon, we ALL have to be nice. You heard that, that-"  
  
"I heard all right."  
  
"Anyway," Aunt Petunia stuttered. "Tea is ready." Harry's Aunt and Uncle practically scurried down the stairs; they often reminded him of over-fed, over-confident rats. Dudley followed them, taking Harry's favorite candle- the one that could never burn out- with him. Harry walked back to his bed and sat alone in the dark. He didn't feel like sitting with the Durlseys and their quiet disapproval. Since Mad-Eye's talk with them at the train station, Harry received Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's fake generosity that was usually saved for the neighbors. Unlike the neighbors, Harry knew that his aunt and uncle were being fake. Harry didn't go down for tea or dinner. Instead, he stayed in his room- in the dark, alone.  
  
Several days before Harry sat pondering in his dark bedroom, various members of the Order were getting together and preparing for their trip. They had heard that there was going to be Death Eater activity in southern Italy. Half of the Order was going to investigate for the Italian Ministry of Magic and hopefully the Death Eaters would be stopped before there were attacks on muggles or wizards. Lupin had to stay behind because it was going to be a full moon soon. Snape was in the kitchen brewing the wolfsbane potion, as everyone else was frantically searching for the wands that Kreacher had hidden throughout the house.  
  
Harry woke up the next morning to find that it had finally stopped raining. It was still cloudy out, but at least it seemed that the electricity had been restored. At the foot of Harry's bed was a small white box. Harry smiled- something that had become more and more infrequent- and opened the box. Inside was a small cake that read, "Happy Birthday Harry". He hid the box under the loose floorboards in his room when he heard Dudley waking up in the room beside him.  
  
Besides the cake, Harry's day passed uneventfully- until the arrival of the Daily Prophet newsletter that is. Harry opened the newspaper and almost dropped it.  
  
"The War Officially Begins  
  
'At about 1:15 this morning an army of Death Eaters attacked a small wizarding village in southern Italy. Ministry officials were tipped off about the attack and were traveling to Italy as the attack began. The officials were able to stop the advancement of the Death Eaters, but with many casualties. The Death Eaters finally fled several hours later, leaving the village in ruins. The Ministry is still investigating the attack and looking for potential survivors. The town, Diso, was considered one of the main wizarding towns that blended muggle and wizard life in Italy. It is still not certain why He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named chose this place as his first official attack.  
  
The British Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, expressed his deep regret over the situation in a conference early this morning, but insists that ample measures are being taken in order to combat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers. "I have confidence in our wizarding community and I feel that we can over come this great evil that has befallen us." Noticeably absent from the conference was Albus Dumbledore.  
  
No casualties or deaths have been reported. For more information on the cause, turn to page three.'  
  
Harry sat in shock for several seconds. He ignored the sound of the doorbell and turned the page to finish reading the article. To his surprise, there was no page three; the paper went directly from page two to four. He cursed the paper and resorted to skimming every page looking for any information or possible names of people that could have been involved with attack. Page six seemed to be missing too. Finding no information on the attack, he threw the paper across the room and glared at his door in frustration.  
  
"WHAT?" Harry yelled at whoever was knocking on his door.  
  
"Open up!" A familiar voice yelled back, followed by more pounding.  
  
"Thought you weren't coming till next week!" Harry answered as he opened the door. On the other side stood a smiling Ron.  
  
"Dunno, Dumbledore just sent Lupin to get you. Technically no one in the Order can go on a mission without at least one back up. And here I am," Ron said rather proudly. "Don't worry- the Dursley's are talking with Lupin in the kitchen. He's got a letter from Dumbledore."  
  
"Oh, so you uh, hear from Hermione lately?" Harry asked as he checked under his bed for some missing schoolbooks. Ron knew Harry was avoiding the issue of him staying with the Dursleys but decided not to press him- he didn't feel like dealing with one of Harry's frequent screaming fits.  
  
"I think she said she was in Rome, right? She probably won't be coming back for a while. They are checking anything magical- especially wizards- that crosses the border. She could be there till school starts." Ron answered. If Harry had bothered to turn around he would have noticed the nervous look on Ron's face.  
  
"Harry, Ron, hurry it up!" Lupin called from down the stairs. Harry and Ron frantically started to shove things in Harry's trunk.  
  
"You sure that's all?" Ron said as he was sitting on top of the trunk so it stayed closed. Harry was working on the buckles.  
  
"Think so." With that Harry closed his trunk and started to take it down the stairs while Ron took Hedwig's cage and Harry's Firebolt. Out in the hallway, Dudley's door was shut and there was no sound coming from his room at all. Harry found Lupin downstairs, smirking at a baby picture of Dudley.  
  
"Ready to go then, Harry?" Harry nodded at him. Lupin looked at him grimly before taking his things and attaching them to the back of his own broom. Then he performed the Disillusionment charm on both Harry and Ron before ushering them out the door. The trip didn't seem to take very long and when they touched down at Grimmauld Place, Harry wasn't sure whether he felt relieved or not. What good was Grimmauld Place without Sirius?  
  
Inside the house was definitely different than the last time Harry was there. In the entranceway, dirty curtains still covered the picture of Sirius' mother, but other than that, the house seemed different. Harry couldn't tell why, but it felt different. It could have been that Mrs. Weasley had finally finished cleaning the main sections of the house and the grime and dust that clung to his clothes were missing or it could have just been the lack of Sirius.  
  
"Ron, why don't you help Harry bring his things upstairs and then come down to the kitchen? There's something important we need to discuss," Lupin said as he walked past the boys.  
  
"Like what?" Harry asked, not masking his annoyance as he bent to pick up his trunk. It was really heavy and he didn't feel like carrying it. He finally resorted to dragging it along the floor.  
  
"How am I supposed to know? Ginny and I aren't good for anything but getting locked into rooms around here and trust me, there are a LOT of them," Ron answered. Harry felt like hollering, 'Really, how does that feel because it's become my whole life!' but he resisted the urge. There was no use getting in a fight with Ron on the first day away from the useless Dursleys.  
  
"We have to go to the kitchen." Ginny said, as soon as the door opened. She was sitting on top of Ron's bed and reading a letter.  
  
"Hey, get down from there! What are you doing anyhow?" Ron bellowed.  
  
"Don't yell at me, Ronald Weasley! Pigwidgeon just brought me a letter," Ginny said as she jumped down from the bed and shoved the letter in her pocket. Then she left.  
  
"George found a letter of hers from Dean Thomas. Can you believe it?" Ron looked livid. Harry just steered him in the direction of the kitchen. Lupin walked out of the kitchen just as they turned the corner.  
  
"Ron, stop giving Ginny a hard time. Now listen, Mundungus brought a girl back from Diso. She was found trapped in the attic of an orphanage. She hasn't spoken to anyone since she's been rescued. We're not even sure if she speaks any English. Just try and be nice," Lupin said.  
  
"Where are you going?" Ron asked. Lupin just looked at him and left. "That's the I-Can't-Tell-You-Because-You're-Not-In-The-Order look. You'll get used to it." Harry scowled behind him thinking, 'I've been seeing it a lot longer than you have' but he followed Ron into the kitchen anyway. The usually chatty Ginny was sitting directly across from the girl- and she was totally silent.  
  
"What do you say to someone who doesn't speak English?" Ginny asked. The girl turned around to see who had walked into the kitchen. She had long blonde hair and eyes that were a very light green. Her eyes appeared to be the only thing on her face that was left with color. She was pitifully thin and her clothes were tattered rags. Her appearance reminded Harry that she had been in the midst of a major Death Eater attack. An orphan, just like him. But he doubted she had been orphaned twice- the way he had.  
  
"HI," Ron said awkwardly.  
  
"Ron, don't be stupid! Italian people do not say hi "Ginny said condescendingly. Ron rolled his eyes thinking how stupid little sisters can be.  
  
"Hi," the girl said, smiling at Ron. She didn't look quite so pitiful when she smiled, Harry thought.  
  
"See," Ron shot at Ginny. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" Ginny rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"She's not deaf you know."  
  
"My name is Fiona and yes, I can speak English. I'm not deaf either."  
  
"You're looking rather peaky," Ron said stupidly. Ginny scowled at him.  
  
"That's not being nice Ron!"  
  
"If you don't mind, would you tell us what happened?" Harry asked Fiona, ignoring Ginny and Ron. As Harry looked at Fiona, he felt his scar twinge with pain. Voldemort definitely wasn't happy about something. 


	2. Chapter Two: Diso

Once again, I own nothing except Fiona and the basic plot lines.....  
  
Major thanks to: Lydia and dreamermarie- my amazing betas and to smollfry : I'm glad you liked my story so far!  
  
Chapter 2: Diso  
  
"What happened?" Harry asked again, louder this time in an attempt to stop Ron and Ginny's bickering, although he doubted it would work. Harry could feel the mild stinging of his scar begin to recede.  
  
"When?" Fiona asked, still looking at her hands.  
  
"The attack at Diso, what happened," Harry said, rather forcefully. Fiona took a deep breath and stared at her hands for a full minute before she finally started her story. Ron and Ginny fell silent as soon as she began to speak.  
  
"I lived on the outskirts of Diso, away from the Muggles and their tourist attractions. I lived in a special house. There are many of them in Diso. You would call them an orphanage, but that's not really what they are. They're homes for abandoned people with magical abilities. Many of the children are muggle-born. Marya, she is my housemother, told me that I wasn't muggle-born, but she didn't know who my parents were. I was sent from London when I was a little over a year old. Now Marya's- well, she's not there anymore. Most of the people aren't,  
  
especially the children." She paused for a second, but then continued on. "Our house was targeted first. There were so many people and all of them wore masks. It was really scary. Marya was the first to be-"  
  
"Murdered. She was murdered by the Death Eaters," Harry said bitterly.  
  
"Yes, that man- Mundungus, I think. He told me that too, but I don't understand why they would want to attack my village. There isn't anything there-"  
  
"Voldemort doesn't just look for things, he looks for people. Someone or something really important to him must have been in Diso," Harry concluded, Ron and Ginny paled at the mention of Voldemort's name.  
  
"Fiona, what happened after Marya was murdered?" Ginny asked.  
  
"I wasn't supposed to be on the steps. Everyone was ordered to go into the basement. They were going to leave the basement through the back door. They were found though, the Death Eaters found everyone. None of them survived, even the babies were killed. I ran up the steps and hid in a small room in the attic. From there I could see almost the whole village. After my house was plundered, they went onto the next house. People were running and screaming and collapsing everywhere. The Dark Mark was hovering over the whole village. The sky was dark from smoke and clouds. Many houses were burning. It seemed as if the whole town was engulfed in flames. I didn't know what to do, so I stayed hidden and watched from out my small window."  
  
"That's horrible!" Ginny said, with tears in her eyes. Harry sat silently digesting the story.  
  
"Wait, how did you get out? If everyone else was killed, how come no one found you?" Ron asked looking very confused.  
  
"But I was found. I had dropped my wand on the steps by accident and one of the Death Eaters found it. They were searching the house for me when I saw Mundungus and another man outside. He just happened to look up and see me in the window. Then he ran to the house."  
  
"The man who was with him, what did he look like?" Harry asked.  
  
"He had jet-black hair and dark eyes. He was a little taller than Mundungus and much thinner."  
  
"Wonder who that was," Ron said.  
  
"It was lucky no one else saw you up in that window," Ginny said quietly.  
  
"What happened after Mundungus entered the house?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, I heard him battle with several people throughout the house. Another Death Eater had practically found me by the time Mundungus got up into the attic. I was so scared that I was holding my breath."  
  
"Oh no! What happened?" Ginny was practically screaming and Ron glared at her for interrupting Fiona.  
  
"If you'd hush up, she could tell you," Ron said. Ginny gave him a dirty look before returning her gaze to Fiona. Harry sat listening pensively to Fiona's story.  
  
"Well, the Death Eater, he uh, he killed the man with Mundungus. Mundungus Stunned him almost at the same time that he killed the other man. Actually, I don't know if the Death Eater was stunned. He definitely wasn't moving, but it was the longest I had ever seen a stunning spell last."  
  
"After I was sure it was safe, I crawled out of the small, concealed door and into the main part of the attic. Mundungus had a little boy named Tony with him. Tony stayed with me while Mundungus guarded the house. He tried to figure out a way to get us out of Diso, but it was too hard. Tony and I stayed in that room for three days. Well, that's what Mundungus told me on the way here. I don't think he was  
  
supposed to bring me here, but I'm happy he did. We had to sneak out of the  
  
village. Two Death Eaters on the way here attacked us. They killed Tony.  
  
He almost made it, almost." Fiona sat quietly for a couple of minutes, just  
  
staring at her hands.  
  
An odd silence had filled the room. Ginny and Ron stared at each other, confused at what to do.  
  
"What happened after that?" Harry asked. Fiona waited a few seconds before replying.  
  
"We hiked to a neighboring town where we traveled by Floo-powder. From there we flew on brooms until we reached here. Grimmauld Place, isn't it?" She said, lifting her head for the first time and looking Harry straight in the eye. Harry felt his forehead begin to sting.  
  
"Yes, that's right. But I still don't understand. How did you survive? Do you know how many other people survived?" asked Harry incredulously, resisting the urge to rub his scar.  
  
"I don't know. I got lucky, I guess. A lot of people were killed on their way out of the village, like Tony was. They set up a shelter for some survivors, but Mundungus told me that I didn't belong there. He brought me back here last night."  
  
"That's not possible," Ron said. "The Daily Prophet said the fighting began this  
  
morning!"  
  
"And did you believe everything the Daily Prophet said about Harry? Come on, Ron! You know the Ministry controls the paper. They probably just didn't want anyone to overreact- or know that they were slow in finding out about the whole thing. You've seen how everyone is handling this. Some people aren't even letting their kids go back to Hogwart's!" Ginny exclaimed.  
  
"What? That's just ridiculous!" Harry screamed as he jumped out of his seat.  
  
"Well, we know that, but it doesn't matter to them. Really, it's the Ministry's fault. If they hadn't treated Dumbledore the way they did, it wouldn't be as bad. I think many people don't trust him as much as they used to," Ginny said matter of  
  
factly.  
  
"You've got some of those Extendable Ears, haven't you?" Ron asked suspiciously.  
  
"I have not. Stop being stupid, Ron, really."  
  
"Is everyone really gone?" Harry asked, slightly annoyed that he was once again breaking up an argument.  
  
"Well, not everyone," Ron said. "Mum and Lupin are still here."  
  
"Yeah, a few always stay behind- but after the attack more people, like Dad, left to supervise the cleaning," Ginny added.  
  
"On the brighter side, Kreacher is now a wall ornament," Ron said absentmindedly.  
  
"What? Who did that?" Harry asked. Fiona looked from person to person, with a bewildered look on her face.  
  
"Well, it seems Bellatrix got extremely angry with him after he told her that you were still alive. So, she cut his head off and several seconds later, it appeared on  
  
a plaque on the wall. Happened just this morning," Ron said.  
  
"Well, that's good. Now Kreacher can't spy for Bellatrix anymore," Harry said.  
  
"He may have been a spy Harry, but he could have been useful to us as well," Lupin said as he walked into the room.  
  
"He reported to Bellatrix," Harry said, as if Lupin hadn't heard him the first time.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes he did, but you are also overlooking the fact that he served other members of the Black family as well. Not all of them are bad you know," Lupin reminded him.  
  
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," Harry said.  
  
"In these times, you have to think of everything."  
  
"That's enough Remus. It's almost dusk. Take your potion and go down into the cellar." Lupin made a sound similar to a growl before he stalked out of the room.  
  
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, forcing a smile onto his face.  
  
"Harry! How are you, dear? Sorry I couldn't greet you at the door but Remus's potion is rather tedious to make- and very precise might I add," Mrs. Weasley said as she pulled Harry out of his chair and gave him a big hug.  
  
"I'm- fine, really," Harry responded hoping she would let him go soon. As much as he hated her sympathy, Harry couldn't find himself being mad at Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley gazed down at Harry. A maternal look of worry was clearly etched on her face, but she quickly composed herself.  
  
"Now, out of the kitchen all of you. I have to cook for the members that are returning tonight. There will be a big meeting during dinner too, so you'll all be eating up in Ron's room. Don't worry, it shouldn't last too long," Mrs. Weasley said, winking at Harry. Harry, Ron, and Ginny left the kitchen. Fiona stayed sitting  
  
at the table. Since the arrival of Lupin, she hadn't uttered a word. Ginny  
  
looked back and smiled at her before motioning her to follow. Fiona smiled  
  
back, but shook her head- she felt like being alone.  
  
Mrs. Weasley immediately started cooking. A cauldron was slowly simmering as potatoes were peeling and chopping themselves. Meanwhile, plates and cups were lining themselves up on the counter. She didn't even notice that Fiona was still sitting at the table.  
  
"Oh my! Oh, I forgot you were here, dear. Not that you can understand me. Let's see now, I'll need 12 cups, plates, forks, knives- now, where did I put all of that?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she bustled about the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley turned around and gasped as Fiona opened one of the drawers and began counting out forks.  
  
"How many people are going to be here tonight?" Ginny asked as she reentered the room.  
  
"Twelve," Fiona answered quietly, avoiding Mrs. Weasley's gaze. Mrs. Weasley glared at Ginny for not telling her that Fiona could speak English. She hurriedly turned back around to supervise the potatoes after one flew past her ear.  
  
"Need me to finish Harry's cake, mum?" Ginny asked sweetly.  
  
"Shh! Ginny, they're just upstairs!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.   
  
"Don't worry. They're unpacking Harry's things and they haven't got any Extendable Ears, either." Mrs. Weasley frowned at the mention of Extendable Ears. She still wasn't taking the twin's career choice well- despite their recent success.  
  
"What are Extendable Ears?" Fiona asked.  
  
"Oh, they're really neat! Fred and George- my twin brothers- make them. They allow you to hear-"  
  
"Things you shouldn't," Mrs. Weasley interrupted as the potatoes zoomed into the cauldron. Fiona stared in awe at the now-filled cauldron.  
  
"Come ON, mum! It's just innocent fun!" Ginny said. Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth as if she were going to scold but immediately closed it again. Instead, she levitated a cake onto the table and continued cooking.  
  
Various members of the Order began to pour into the house just as Mrs. Weasley finished preparing the meal. She frowned at Mundungus and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Hooligan" as he walked by, but immediately after her mouth dropped open in surprise. Not only was Mundungus hugging the girl, but he had a little gift for her as well!  
  
"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, he probably got that from the back of someone's wagon," Tonks said. "Need any help?" She looked at Mrs. Weasley eagerly.  
  
"Well, not with the food. Everything is pretty much done. However, if you would like, you could find a small table and chairs to send up to Ron and Harry's room. That's where the children will be eating dinner," Mrs. Weasley said as all the bowls on the table filled themselves with stew. "Ginny! Fiona! Upstairs please!" She called out. Ginny grumbled before she stomped out of the room. Fiona followed her, desperately trying to keep up.  
  
"Mum! Why can't Fred or I Apparate into the kitchen?" George asked storming into the room.  
  
"Because you are not allowed," Mrs. Weasley answered, giving them both a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"And why not?" Fred asked.  
  
"No one can," Tonks said, returning from Ron's room. "You can't Apparate in or out of here. Dumbledore set it up." Tonks glanced over at Fred and George and tried desperately not to laugh, but she couldn't help herself. Both of the Weasley twins were wearing long cloaks apparently made from some sort of dragon hide. Dragon hide boots also protruded out from under the cloak.  
  
"What is so funny?" George asked, totally serious.  
  
"Nothing," Mrs. Weasley said, eyeing Tonks and giving her a quick look of warning.  
  
"Yeah, nothing," Tonks added. "I just wasn't aware that you changed your joke shop into a costume shop!" Fred was about to open his mouth but Mrs. Weasley just pointed out of the room.  
  
"Upstairs, NOW."  
  
"Come on, Mum. We're of age," Fred argued, as if that were the answer to every question.  
  
"Yes, but you are NOT a member of the Order, now up you get. And YOU!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed turning to Mundungus. Fred and George listened to their mother yell at Mundungus Fletcher for finding another stash of stolen goods all the way to Ron's room.  
  
"Such a beautiful sound," George said wistfully.  
  
"Yes, there is nothing quite like Mum yelling at someone else," Fred agreed, as he opened Ron's door.  
  
"Hello, there," George said as he spotted Fiona. "Ginny, who's your friend?"  
  
"That's Fiona. Mundungus brought her back from Italy," Ron said, awkwardly.  
  
"Well, ciao, signorina," Fred said, bowing to her before taking her hand and kissing it. Fiona blushed, sending color through her cheeks for the first time in days.  
  
"Stop being stupid, she speaks English," Ginny said.  
  
"Good day, Harry. What are you doing here? Wasn't expecting you for at least another week." Fred shook Harry's hand and George followed suit. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"Later we shall have an executive meeting. Business is very good," George said, winking.  
  
"As you can tell," Ron said. "Because they've got boots to match those ugly cloaks of theirs. What's next? Genuinely hideous hats to match?" Harry smirked.  
  
"I think they're dashing," Ginny said defensively. Fiona stared at them  
  
wide-eyed. She wasn't used to seeing such outgoing wizards and she had  
  
definitely never seen dragon-hide cloaks. Ron rolled his eyes at Ginny, she  
  
thought anything that looked dramatic or expensive was 'dashing' or 'neat' or  
  
whatever her word of the moment happened to be.  
  
"Oi, dinner!" Fred called out, before sitting in the closest chair and shoveling food in his mouth.  
  
"One thing about not living at home," George said. "You always miss home- cooked meals."  
  
"You don't live at home?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, no. We live in the apartment over our shop. It's much easier," George answered.   
  
"Plus, that way Mum can't spy on us," Fred added, grinning. He had already finished his whole bowl of stew. The only other person close to being done was Fiona; everyone else had barely touched their dinners.  
  
"Whoa there! Little hungry, are we? You almost beat me and Fred!" George said as he took his last spoonful.  
  
"I haven't eaten in three days," Fiona said shrugging. Harry watched her intently. She sat back and sighed as she looked at her empty dish. She started to look better and she was gaining color in her face already. 'But why is she here?' Harry couldn't help but wonder.  
  
I hope that you liked the second chapter, please review if you did! I also understand if you totally hate it but please, refrain from flaming unless it's constructive criticism because otherwise you will have done nothing but make me laugh...... 


	3. Chapter Three: The Order and OWLs

Once again, I own nothing except Fiona and the basic plot lines.....  
  
Major thanks to: Lydia and dreamermarie- my amazing betas and to ToConfused247 and ravens dragon wing for reviewing- thanks so much!  
  
Chapter 3: Order Meetings and OWLs  
  
"Damned Ministry," Moody grumbled in between bites of Mrs. Weasley's vegetable stew.  
  
"Who tipped them off?" Tonks asked.  
  
"No one's sure," Kingsley answered. "But it wasn't anyone from my department, I can assure that."  
  
"Someone leaked information about the attack," Tonks told Mrs.Weasley, as she dropped her fork, which was now half buried in mashed potatoes. "So, the Ministry just shows up out of nowhere and totally takes over- making most of the battle much worse than it needed to be. In addition, the Italian Ministry is all pissy because they think that we've gone back on our agreement. All because Fudge is a blubbering, idiotic git!"  
  
"Now Tonks," Mrs. Weasley started, more out of concern for Tonk's use of vocabulary than the Minister of Magic.  
  
"No, she is quite right. We had things under control, or very close to it anyhow. Dumbledore will have to see Fudge again! And that's after he gets back from the Italian Ministry!" Kingsley protested, slightly annoyed.  
  
"I don't mean to intrude," said a small man from the very end of the table, "but perhaps the Ministry has an explanation..."  
  
"Oh stuff it Lovegood. Dumbledore was in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Magic that he would administer to this attack, not Fudge. There is no explanation for invading another country without their consent or knowledge!" Moody interrupted.  
  
"Dumbledore is already in a meeting with the Italian Ministry. Essentially- this whole thing has left Minerva handling Hogwart's by herself. And with Arthur in charge of refugee camps, there isn't much left to do but rebuild," Kingsley put in. "Except recruit. We always need new recruits- especially medi-witches. Many of them were injured in this attack alone and several are unwilling to continue. And Fudge is practically refusing support- he won't even send reinforcements."  
  
Everyone was quiet for several minutes after Kingsley's outburst.  
  
"Lovegood, make sure you write this article right," Moody warned. "And think of some way to mention this medi-witch business without making us look vulnerable. That's the last thing we need." His magic eye was absentmindedly rolling around in his head- checking up on Harry and the rest of the Weasleys upstairs. The roaming eye seemed to affect Lovegood, because it looked as if he was shrinking in his chair. Ever since The Quibbler had first published an interview with Harry, the Order had been using the newspaper to print articles that they felt wouldn't be put in the Daily Prophet.  
  
"Of- of course," Lovegood stammered out. "Well- I best be going. Thanks for dinner, Molly." He seemed much less jumpy when approaching anyone who wasn't Moody, which was a little confusing because Lovegood's newspaper 'The Quibbler' boasted oddities much worse than Moody's eye.  
  
"Your welcome, Phillip. You provide an excellent service to us. Just try not to wake any of the paintings up in the hall-"Mrs. Weasley began to warn, but it came too late. Bloodcurdling screams were already coming from the front hall.  
  
"UNWORTHY SCUM! HOW DARE YOU INHABIT THIS HOUSE! MUDBLOODS! ALL OF YOU- TRAITORS TO THE COMMON GOOD OF OUR PEOPLE! FILTHY, UNPURE-"Apparently, Kingsley made it to the portrait and yanked the curtains shut because the hallway was suddenly as eerily quiet as before. Lovegood stammered some quick apologies before quickly exiting the house. Kingsley quietly shut the door behind him.  
  
"No one's figure out a silencing charm yet?" Tonks asked.  
  
"I'm sure I could find something," Mundungus offered with a sly smile as he sloppily ate more stew.  
  
"You definitely will NOT. None of your 'merchandise' will ever be allowed in this house!" Mrs. Weasley said, nearly shouting.  
  
"Molly," Moody said, in a vain attempt to calm Mrs. Weasley. "He did bring back the girl- safely too."  
  
"Yes, but he neglected to tell me that she spoke English or who she was to begin with! I had no idea. I wake up one morning to find a young girl sitting in my kitchen. She was totally alone. She wouldn't even talk to Ginny! I thought she was a ghost until she drank a glass of water that had been left on the table!" Mrs. Weasley said, clearly more embarrassed then annoyed.  
  
"I received an owl from Dumbledore this morning," Tonks interrupted guiltily. "Perhaps I should have left it to you. It explains Fiona's situation. He said that there are too many painful memories left for her in Italy, and he'd like to keep her under his care for now. We know they were attacking Diso to get to her, so she will be carefully guarded, like Harry. Apparently, she is the same age as Harry, Ron, and Hermione; sixteen years. Dumbledore feels that the best thing for her would be if she attended Hogwart's for the next two years. In two days time, she will start the O.W.L.s so that she can be placed in proper classes." Everyone remembered their own experience with the O.W.L.s and seemed rather alarmed by this. Moody's eye once again circled to Ron's room.  
  
"She hasn't got a wand anymore, it was destroyed," Mundungus put in.  
  
"-And she hasn't even studied, the poor dear. Anyhow, are we absolutely sure that this is the girl?" Mrs. Weasley asked.  
  
"It's her alright- just look at her. Anyway, I sense restlessness upstairs- it's time to set up for the birthday party," Moody ordered.  
  
"She'll be fine, Dumbledore informed me that I'm going to instruct her," Tonks said to Mrs. Weasley, who had already stopped thinking about Fiona.  
  
"Oh, yes- yes of course. Tonks, go call Ginny down, will you?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "And don't forget Fiona!" She added, almost as a side note to herself. As Mrs. Weasley levitated a cake onto the table, Kingsley conjured a tablecloth. Mundungus carried a bag of packages to the table and began to set them on the table. He pinched and rattled each one before setting it down.  
  
"I'm just foolin'!" He shot at Mrs.Weasley with a smirk. Mrs. Weasley had trained herself to keep one eye on Mundungus Fletcher at all times.  
  
"Hey mum, thanks for saving us. Fred and George kept going on and on about business! It was super boring!" Ginny griped as she walked into the room. Fiona slinked in after her, but her eyes lit up when she saw Mundungus, who was currently pocketing one of Harry's presents.  
  
"MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER YOU PUT THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!" Mrs. Weasley boomed. "Don't think I don't see you, and put back all the others you took too. Honestly, stealing from a sixteen year old boy!"  
  
"Good row mum- really. Superb job you're doing today. Don't worry though, we've told Ron and Harry to come down in a little bit," Fred said as he and George pointed their wands to the ceiling and large balloons in many shapes floated out. There was a loud thud on the stairs behind them.  
  
"And there is the clumsy git with the birthday boy now," George added, as a balloon in Harry's form popped out of his wand and began doing cartwheels around the room.  
  
"George! Don't call your brother a git."  
  
"That would be clumsy git, mother dearest," Fred reminded her. She glared at him until she noticed Fiona chuckling behind him.  
  
"It's good to see you looking better dear- what with the color back into your face and all," Mrs. Weasley said kindly.  
  
"Uhh, thank you," Fiona said timidly. Mrs. Weasley let out a loud laugh, which caused Fiona to take a few steps back.  
  
"Surely you're not scared of me now," Mrs. Weasley said, still laughing.  
  
"Mrs. Weasley- she's as good a lady as any- treat ya like one of her own," Mad-eye said.  
  
"When she's not blamin stuff on ya," Mundungus added.  
  
"Mundungus Fletcher, I have never blamed anything on you that you haven't done and you'd better empty your coat pockets right now! Don't think I didn't see you. Now, dear- what Moody says is true, no use getting worked up over me. And if you see any red-heads, well they're my children," Mrs. Weasley said warmly, despite the look she was giving Fred and George.  
  
"Just don't get on her bad side," Fred warned with a smirk, defying his mother's glare.  
  
"Shh! Harry's coming!" Tonks said as she walked in the kitchen. When Harry and Ron walked through the kitchen door everyone screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!" Fred and George set off their new and improved filibuster fireworks that hovered above everyone's heads and bursted out phrases like, 'Happy Birthday!' 'The big 1- 6', and 'Harry's number one!' among other things.  
  
Harry stared in awe for several seconds. His frustration over being locked up at 4 Privet Drive, his lack of owls, and his lost O.W.L. scores were temporarily forgotten. It was his first birthday party ever and he couldn't wait to enjoy it. He shut down the part of his brain that constantly reminded him of the prophecy and Sirius.  
  
"Well, don't you want some of mum's cake?" Fred asked.  
  
"Unfortunately you can't get any if you stand in the doorway like a blubbering idiot," George added. Mrs. Weasley picked up a spoon from the table and smacked George on the back of the head to remind him to watch his language. He pretended it didn't hurt to stop Fred from laughing at him.  
  
At Harry's first birthday party he got sung to for the first time in front of his first official birthday cake. Then he opened his first pile of birthday presents. Harry smiled the most he had in- well a very long time.  
  
Mrs. Weasley beamed down at him as proudly as if he were her own son. Tears welled in her eyes when he opened her gift and declared 'It's wonderful, thanks'. It was a photo album she had made for him. Inside the photo album were many pictures of Harry and the Weasleys. Harry was grateful for the gift; the Weasleys were the closest thing to family that Harry ever knew.  
  
Harry's very last gift was an envelope. Not just any envelope, any extremely LARGE envelope.  
  
"Before you open that, there's two things you should know," Moody said. "Dumbledore wanted to apologize for the lack of information sent to you, but drastic times call for drastic measures you know. I am not sure you were aware that Ron's owl was the only owl that could send you packages besides Hedwig and my personal owl sent your Daily Prophet. What you are holding there are you scores from the O.W.L. tests. Why don't you go upstairs and look them over?" Harry nodded in response to what Moody said, trying to take in every last detail. He got up to leave and noticed Mundungus Fletcher cross the room and begin talking animatedly with Fiona.  
  
Harry walked to the room he shared with Ron and sat on one of the beds. He looked down at the envelope he held in his hands. 'Well, here goes nothing.' Harry thought as he opened the envelope.  
  
A long piece of parchment fell onto Harry's lap. The Hogwart's seal was stamped on top and a long, long letter ensued. He began to read the letter.  
  
'Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
Congratulations on finishing all of your examinations-'  
  
Harry stopped reading at this point. It was just a boring introductory letter anyways- nothing of real importance. It continued on explaining how he was to choose his courses based on the type of work he planned to do after Hogwart's- something he'd already talked to McGonagall about in his previous year of schooling. As he skimmed he noticed that the letter appeared to be getting shorter and shorter. When he got to the end and read Dumbledore's signature, the letter disappeared entirely and was replaced by a large stack of envelopes.  
  
He spread out all the envelopes and picked one at random. He tried to tear open the first envelope, but nothing happened. He stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before he tried again. This time, the envelope flew out of his hands and landed on the floor across the room.  
  
"Well, I guess that one's for last," he muttered aloud, before he dove into the other envelopes. 'Charms' was written in elaborate cursive on the front of the next one. The back was sealed with the Hogwart's crest. Harry tore open the envelope and looked down at the paper that lay in his hands. It was another letter that started with 'Dear Mr. Potter'. He quickly ignored the whole thing and looked to the large lettering in the very center of the paper.  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Exceeds Expectations on your Charms exam.' Harry hooted in delight and ripped open the next envelope. Again, he ignored the whole letter and focused his attention to the very center portion.  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Exceeds Expectations on your Transfiguration exam.'  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Exceeds Expectations on your Herbology exam.'  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Outstanding on your Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. Congratulations on receiving highest marks in this area.' Harry smiled proudly at this. He was sure that all the other members of the DA had gotten the same grade on their exams as well. His smile quickly faded however because the next envelope he picked up was Potions. The ink on the outside of the envelope shined a deep black. He stared at the front of the envelope for several seconds wondering whether or not he really wanted to open it. He finally tore it open, shoving the envelope aside.  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Exceeds Expectations on your Potions exam.' Instead of the excited feeling Harry should have felt at a passing grade in Potions- he didn't receive them too often- Harry's heart stopped. His dream of becoming an Auror was slipping through his fingers. Exceeds Expectations was not a high enough mark to get him into Snape's N.E.W.T. Potions class. 'Not that I'll even live to be an Auror,' Harry thought. "It was stupid of me to expect an Outstanding on Potions.' He could almost see Snape gloating at him already. He threw the paper aside angrily. It landed on top of the unmarked envelope that was lying in the midst of the floor.  
  
"Well, I might as well continue. The rest can't possibly be as bad as this! Besides, I need to know all my grades if I'm going to pick a new occupation anyway," Harry thought aloud.  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Outstanding on your Care of Magical Creatures exam. Congratulations on receiving highest marks in this area.'  
  
'It is our pleasure to inform you that you have received a mark of Acceptable on your Astronomy exam.' Harry stared in disbelief. He, along with most of the other students, had been too distracted to even finish his exam! Yet he somehow passed. He guessed that the Astronomy exam was graded extremely leniently because there was no logical way that he could have passed. Most of the exam was left undone. If Harry had bothered to finish reading the letter, he would have known that the Astronomy exam was indeed graded much easier than the others.  
  
'Unfortunately, you have received a mark of Poor on your Divination exam.' Harry looked at the paper. "No loss there,' he thought. 'Although a poor is kind of a rough mark.'  
  
'Unfortunately, you have received a mark of Troll on your History of Magic exam.' TROLL? He, Harry Potter had received the mark of Troll? The lowest mark that you could possibly get- its existence was considered a rumor- and yet he, Harry James Potter, had gotten a Troll on his History of Magic exam. Granted he didn't do most of the exam, but he did have a good reason. After all, it wasn't his fault if Voldemort was causing him to see visions and then pass out in the midst of his exam! Apparently the O.W.L. board did not know, and Dumbledore obviously chose not to tell them. Still, the Troll stung- even if it was History of Magic.  
  
Harry sat in stunned silence. He could not believe it. He had once again achieved the impossible- in the worst way possible. A mark of Troll was considered gossip, a joke, a you're-so-dumb-you-probably-can't-read-the- exam-paper. And he had just gotten one.  
  
Harry's eyes gravitated to the spot where the tenth envelope lay on the floor, partially covered by the opened Potions letter. It was glowing red. He deeply wished for the simple 'Accio' spell that would propel the letter off the floor and into his outstretched hands, but instead he grumbled as he climbed off the bed and crossed over to where the envelope lay on the floor.  
  
"Hey, Harry! How'd you do?" Ron asked, as he barged into the room.  
  
"Alright," Harry answered curtly. "The letters are on the bed if you want to look at them. Well, here's Potions, Exceeds Expectations."  
  
"Really? Congratulations! You can take the N.E.W.T. class now," Ron said.  
  
"Ron, what are you talking about? You need an OUTSTANDING to get into Snape's class. He said so himself," Harry said irritably. Ron was beginning to annoy him.  
  
"What? No you don- oh, read the letter first," Ron said and went over to the bed to look through Harry's other scores.  
  
'Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
Congratulations on your O.W.L. scores. Few students have scored as well as you have. Below are the listed classes that you are qualified to take. Please return this letter with an owl detailing which classes you have decided to take. This owl should arrive not later than the First of August. Please take the time to look over these classes and select the ones you feel are most necessary for the line of work you are interested in. Also, it has come to our attention that you had some disadvantages on the day of your testing for History of Magic. Your score of Troll is pending you take a make-up exam to be administered the Third of August at one in the afternoon. Please include your decision to retake the examination as soon as possible.  
  
All of these are N.E.W.T. level: Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
All of these are Advanced level: Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy.  
  
After looking this over, you may realize that you previously do not meet the requirements for the N.E.W.T. level Potions class, but do not worry. Due to certain circumstances, this year the N.E.W.T. level Potions class is offered to all students who scored Exceeds Expectations and have shown interest in the class. Of course you will be required to complete an extra summer assignment –"  
  
Harry didn't bother reading the rest just yet. What kind of circumstances caused Snape to change his mind? But then, did Harry really care? With the Potions class, he was allowed to become an Auror. Surely Hermione would help him; at least he assumed she would.  
  
"Finish reading yet?" Ron asked. "Hey I thought that Troll was some made up grade they used to terrorize us with? That's pretty funny- wait till I tell Fred and George!"  
  
"No, Ron. No it's not funny at all. It's pathetic."  
  
"What a shame. I got a Dreadful on that one myself. Mum made me clean bathrooms for a whole week for that one."  
  
Harry scowled at Ron's grade, "Trying to rub in your better grade. Don't worry too much though- my letter says I get to take it over anyways."  
  
"I wasn't trying to be mean- I was just saying- I mean look, we both failed miserably right? So, you taking Potions?" Ron asked quickly to cover up his 'mistake'. He could never tell when Harry was going to have a row at him. Apparently now looked like just a good a time as ever and Ron was wishing that he could think of some excuse to leave the room before Harry really blew up.  
  
"Of course I am, it's the only way that I can become an auror. What do you think happened that forced Snape to lower the prerequisites for the class?"  
  
"According to Ginny- who is nosier than Fred and George put together- only four people got an Outstanding on the Potions exam and two of them were from Ravenclaw. I'm assuming the other was Hermione," Ron said rather proudly. "Anyways, Dumbledore said that Snape simply couldn't have a class for only four people and that he HAD to allow other students into the class on the basis of fairness. Seeing as you got an Exceeds Expectations, I understand why," Ron said.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked defensively.  
  
"Nothing really, just that it helped you is all- you should be happy," Ron said.  
  
"Well- it helped you too didn't it?" Harry shot back rudely. He really wished that Ron would just leave.  
  
"Actually Harry, I was the fourth person to get an Outstanding."  
  
"WHAT? YOU got a WHAT? How?" Harry said in shock and disbelief. Ron was always extremely nervous in potions. "Were you planning on keeping that from me? Why, so that you could feel better than me?"  
  
"No! Harry what are you saying? You're not making any sense! You know, for someone who acts so alone and put upon, you have an awful lot of people on your side. This might be a hard time for you, but it's a hard time for everyone else too. Maybe you should think about that before you go around ripping everyone's heads off! It's not fair that I should have to guard what I say around my best friend simply because he's pissy all the time!" Ron screamed, before he turned and walked out the door. Harry stared at Ron's empty spot before he walked over to his bed and sat down. It was the first time Ron had really yelled at him. It had always been Hermione that was quick to call him on his behavior- Ron always just dealt with it. Harry sat confused for several seconds.  
  
'What was his problem anyway?' Harry thought, totally overlooking the fact the effect that having both of Weasley parents in the Order had on the Weasley family- especially how uneasy it made Ron. 'HE hasn't got his own prophesy! It's not HIM that's practically fated to die- well, it's either death or murder.' Harry let his mind race and he shuddered. He got up and paced the room. There HAD to be something else to think about, there just HAD to.  
  
"Classes!" Harry shouted. He went to the bed to retrieve the rest of the papers. He quickly wrote the letter, stating that he would like to take all the N.E.W.T. preparatory classes on his list and that he agreed to retake the History of Magic exam. 'As long as Hagrid is the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, that class shouldn't be too bad,' he thought. 'Besides, Hermione dropped out of Divinations in the midst of third year, so I should be able to drop whatever I choose as well.'  
  
"Knock, knock!" Fred said, bursting into the room- without even attempting an actual knock.  
  
"Ron said you were in a nasty mood- something about getting a Troll on one of your exams. We wanted to say good job old chum! We thought that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get that grade!" George said.  
  
"Until we managed it ourselves! Apparently if you predict that you will die more than twice in one month in Divinations, they automatically fail you- which is totally unfair," Fred said.  
  
"So, we have decided to come talk to you about business!" George put in.  
  
"There's more?" Harry asked in disbelief. The twins had practically gone over every sale they had ever had with him before- and the twins weren't lying- they had a TON of sales.  
  
"Not really- although we know you're disappointed," Fred said smirking.  
  
"We were just wondering, what do you know about this Fiona?" George asked.  
  
"Actually, I was just wondering," Fred said. George looked at him. "Ok, ok so we were BOTH wondering."  
  
"I have no idea- I just got here! She's from Italy and her name's Fiona. That's about it."  
  
"Yea, we know that. Dad's there right now," George said. "We were just hoping you knew something about her."  
  
"Like where she's living would be nice," Fred interrupted. "What she's doing? Her favorite color, maybe? How about her favorite flower? Does she prefer fudge or something else- like Fizzing Whizbees? How about- "  
  
"I have no idea!" Harry interrupted loudly. "And what do colors and flowers and candies have to do with her anyway?"  
  
"Nothing special. We're just, er, recruiting people to test out some possible merchandise," George offered. Harry looked at him skeptically. He had known Fred and George for a long time, and although they DID try to get other people to test their products (Hermione had yelled at them countless times when she was a Prefect)- they also liked pretty girls. He bet they were more interested in the second than the first, although they would never admit it to him.  
  
Ok, well I should be posting chapter four on Friday! Please review and tell me what you think- flames are ok too. If you would like to read another story, one of my betas dreamermarie has an excellent story posted on ! 


	4. Chapter Four: Stretching Senses

Ok, I still own nothing.......(except Fiona, she is mine)  
  
Please review if you have a chance! Please....  
  
And special thanks to my betas, Lyds and dreamermarie!!  
  
Chapter Four: Stretching Senses  
  
While Harry, Ron, and Ginny dutifully waited for their next letters from Hogwart's and Hermione, Mrs. Weasley put them to work.  
  
"I thought we already cleaned out every room! How is it possible that there are more? I swear- this door just appeared here today. It definitely wasn't here when I went down for breakfast," Ron complained.  
  
"Shut it, Ronald," Ginny said as soon as their mother huffed out of the room for the second time. Apparently, the Black family had not been big on dusting- this room was one of the dirtiest yet.  
  
"Eww!" Ginny suddenly screamed as a spider, somewhat quaffle sized, fell onto her lap and scuttled across the floor. Ron seemed glued to the spot where he was standing until he suddenly darted out of the room.  
  
"Honestly," Harry said. "I'm going to find your mum, why don't you come with me?" Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her out the door, "Shut the door quickly, before it gets out!" He bit back a scream as the huge, black, hairy insect started towards the door. Ginny shut the door just in time.  
  
"Whew! That was close!" Ginny said.  
  
Then, Ginny screamed even louder than before. When she had closed the door, she had closed it on one of the spider's legs. The severed leg lay twitching on the floor in front of her.  
  
"What's all the racket?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she came up the stairs carrying several brooms in one hand. The other held a large garbage bag. She stopped when she saw the detached leg on the floor. "Oh come now, Ginny dear- it's not so bad. I can take care of this in a second! You know you can't be that loud- Fiona and Tonks are downstairs studying for Fiona's O.W.L.s!" She turned to Harry. "Now exactly how big is this thing?"  
  
"Er- well, it's pretty big. Ron ran off- no idea where he went, though."  
  
"That's alright, he'll come back later. Ok, let's just open the door a smidge and- OH MY GOODNESS!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked. Apparently, Ron wasn't the only Weasley with a fear of spiders. "Petrificus Totalus!" The spider froze in its position and rolled over. Harry watched in amazement as Mrs. Weasley mumbled something and the spider- detached leg and all- disappeared.  
  
"Way to go, Mum!" Ginny said, thoroughly impressed.  
  
"Well that wasn't so bad- now was it?" Mrs. Weasley said, ignoring her shaking hands. Then, acting as if nothing was wrong, Mrs. Weasley walked into the room. Harry walked in behind her, reluctantly. Ginny followed behind, using Harry as a human shield. Ron was nowhere to be found.  
  
"Hmm, this room seems a little dangerous," Mrs. Weasley said- spying some metal hooks and chains on the walls. "I think I'll have Alastor walk through the rest of the rooms before we continue on. Don't worry, no more cleaning in this wing today. Harry, dear, why don't you go to the kitchen and begin studying for your History of Magic exam? Ginny, go find Ron and then meet me in the hall- you two can help me clean up some other rooms I know are safe." Both Harry and Ginny grumbled as they walked back into the hallway.  
  
As Harry neared the kitchen, he heard giggles getting louder and louder. He walked into the room to find Fiona hysterically laughing while Tonks sat across from her at the table. Tonks, a metamorphmagus, was changing different features on her face. At the present, she had an absurdly long nose and two beady little eyes. She quickly changed back when she saw Harry walk into the room.  
  
"Where is Molly?" She asked, knowing she'd get a good scolding if Mrs. Weasley caught her making faces while she was supposed to be tutoring. "We were just taking a much needed break. Fiona, apparently, is very good with Potions and Charms. Her Astronomy is excellent. Her transfiguration however, needs a little bit of work." Tonks added with a smile.  
  
"Mrs. Weasley's still upstairs, cleaning every room she finds- with Ginny in tow. She sent me down so we can start studying for History of Magic," Harry answered. Fiona frowned.  
  
"She had me transfigure a wooden box into a flying bird. I got the bird shape alright- it's just a shame wooden birds can't fly," Fiona said. Tonks laughed behind her.  
  
"The thing fell to the ground like lead!" Tonks said, not even suppressing her laughter. Harry began laughing and the three soon began the next lesson. They stopped after an hour or so for a snack of chocolate frogs before continuing on.  
  
"Don't mind me, dears- keep on working. I'm just going to start dinner. Tonks- don't forget that there's a meeting tonight," Mrs. Weasley said as she slipped into the room.  
  
"That's alright, Mrs. Weasley. We're about up to the 1800's anyhow. We'll finish the rest tomorrow. Make sure you two rest up today. Fiona, you still need to study for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. We'll work on those tomorrow, after we're done with History of Magic."  
  
"Thank you. I'll see you later," Fiona said, before getting up from the table. She picked up all the books that Tonks had given her and went upstairs.  
  
"Who takes Arithmancy and Ancient Runes?" Tonks asked.  
  
"Hermione," Harry answered. "Speaking of, I think I'm going to see if she sent us anything. Thanks for all your help, Tonks." Harry himself got up from the table and briskly walked out of the room.  
  
"Harry, good fellow, you're still here!" George boomed, as soon as Harry walked into his bedroom.  
  
"We're comforting Ickle Ronniekins over here because he got scared by an itty- bitty spider, right Ronnie?" Fred said, taunting his brother.  
  
"Shove it, will you," Ron yelled in exasperation.  
  
Apparently, Fred had become bored with his youngest brother, because he turned to Harry. "Anyway, Harry, we figured we'd offer you a gift. As our greatest benefactor, we will expect you to test out some of our more prestigious products," he started. Harry looked a little wary.  
  
"Now, we all know that tonight there is a very big, very important meeting downstairs and so, Fred and I have come to assist you. Professor Lupin has contacted us and said he has made it so that mother couldn't possibly stop us from using our Extendable Ears. Besides, we fixed them up. They are virtually unrecognizable and they offer something that few other of our products do- vision," George said triumphantly.  
  
"Yes, our Extendable Ears are now part of our collection called Stretching Senses. This particular set, the second of its kind, comes with our Expandable Eyes. Catchy isn't it?" Fred said, smugly. "Now you can see and hear what is going on around you. There are still some glitches, though. Watch out because if you use it too long you'll get a message that says 'Peeping Toms are no fun, they could really hurt someone!' I don't know how that got there, but it flashes in big green letters. And if you still don't stop after that- well let's just say the results aren't pretty."  
  
"You should get about two hours or so on this pair, though. Possibly more," George said quickly, after he saw the disgusted looks on the faces of Harry and Ron. Out of his pocket, George produced several little cards.  
  
"Those look like the cards from Chocolate Frogs," Harry said incredulously.  
  
"Yep they do, old chum. And yet, they are nothing like those boring, useless child's cards. Now, if you noticed- which you probably didn't, hanging in the two rooms most likely to be in use tonight, are two other cards very similar to this. They are hidden and out of sight, but they will transfer sound and images to these very cards right here. To use the cards, simply hold the card and say, 'One, Two, I'll spy on you!' and then they should work. Unfortunately, there is no way to change the dim-witted charm," Fred said, frowning.  
  
"When you are done you simply say, 'Spying accomplished' and they will return back to their usual appearance. Oh look- this one's Dumbledore," George said, amazed with himself. Ron looked at the card in shock before walking back over to his bed.  
  
"Harry, our letters came from Hogwarts. We're going to have to get our books much earlier this year- there is so much work to do in everything already. In Potions, we have to do the first two lessons! I don't know how Snape expects all of this, I really don't! Here's your letter, though," Ron said, handing Harry his letter.  
  
"Way to be the bearer of bad news, Ronald!" Fred scoffed.  
  
At least we give him cool stuff," George added. Ron glowered at him.  
  
"Seriously now- this isn't even your room!" Ron barked.  
  
"Alright, alright- we hear you. But we'll be back after dinner," Fred said, winking in Harry's direction. Harry opened his letter and began reading.  
  
'Dear Mr. Potter,  
  
Congratulations on choosing your classes for next year. Enclosed with this letter you will find a list of books and materials ("You should see all the junk Snape's requiring!" Ron said in the background) that you will need in your next year at Hogwarts. It is suggested that you begin your summer work as soon as possible since there is such a short time left already-'  
  
The letter went on to talk all about the N.E.W.T.s that the students would begin preparing for in the fall. Harry read each long paragraph before he turned to the next page. Ron was right- the amount of work that Snape wanted them to do was unbelievable- but in addition to the regular N.E.W.T. level potions work, Harry had some assignments from his old book as well.  
  
"He gave me extra lessons!"  
  
"Guess all the people that got Exceeded Expectations have to do some extra, eh?" Ron asked. Ron decided he wasn't going to be the one to remind him that Harry's first letter already told him this.  
  
"Still a Prefect?" Harry asked. Ron was hoping he had forgotten.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty rotten at it though, so I don't understand why."  
  
Harry understood perfectly. That just meant that Dumbledore had something else for him to do. Hopefully, he'd learn what that something else was tonight.  
  
The meeting started as soon as dinner ended. Dumbledore sent Dobby to Grimmauld Place for the night to help clean up so the meeting could be started right away.  
  
While the members of the Order gathered together downstairs, upstairs a similar gathering was taking place in Ron and Harry's room.  
  
"We need a new meeting place- you simply can't keep barging in here," Ron complained.  
  
"Oh, hush up you great git," George snapped. "They're about to start."  
  
Fred and George had only brought five cards with them. Ginny and Fiona shared a card, while Fred, George, Harry, and Ron each had their own.  
  
"Look there's Snape! The biggest git of 'em all!" Fred exclaimed.  
  
"Shh! They're starting the meeting!" Ron said, his patience with the twins was wearing thin.  
  
It was true; downstairs various members of the Order were beginning to sit down. There seemed to be so many people there. Severus Snape stood up to talk first.  
  
"Boring!" George called out. Everyone laughed but quieted down as he began speaking.  
  
"The most apparent business at hand; the attack in Italy. The meeting with the Italian Ministry has been a success-"Snape started.  
  
"You can sure tell how successful by the joyous expression on his face," George said sarcastically, hooting with laughter.  
  
"-It seems however, that although we no longer have an enemy with the Italians we are having problems with our own Ministry. Dumbledore is currently having a meeting with Cornelius Fudge as we speak. He has sent me here to talk in his place. He is trying to convince Cornelius that reinforcements- especially in the form of mediwitches and basic supplies are greatly needed in Diso at the moment. Also, the 'refugee camp' that has been set up needs some help. Fewer and fewer victims are being found alive. In fact, the total number of survivors that live in the camp is only around twenty people. However there have been casualties to the other side as well, some of them reckless," Snape said, pausing to glare at Mundungus. Dung, who wasn't even paying attention, kept staring at one of the pictures on the wall and silently calculating its worth.  
  
"There have been four arrests made because of this attack, but they can not be tried in the Wizengamot courts here in England, instead the trials will take place in Italy. We are in the process of sending a representative to Italy, especially since Narcissa Malfoy was spotted walking through Rome early this morning talking to a member of the Italian Ministry. When Dumbledore gets back from his meeting he will tell us our next course of action." Snape sat in his seat and next Tonks stood up. She didn't begin as smoothly as Snape.  
  
"Uh, can everyone hear me?" She asked a little nervously at first. Mrs. Weasley gave her an encouraging smile from her seat. "Right well um, I would just like to say good job on successfully finding Fiona and bringing her to safety. Dumbledore has decided that it is best if she attend Hogwarts this fall. She will be enrolled as a sixth year student and has already expressed excitement about going to school. Her O.W.L. testing will begin the day after tomorrow and I'm sure academically she will be very ready, however there comes the issue of her wand. Her last wand was lost in Diso, it's presumed to be destroyed. There is not enough time for her to get a new one before testing, so she will take her tests using Harry's wand," Tonks paused, waiting for a reaction. Upstairs, there was definitely a reaction.  
  
"WHAT? Who said this? I did NOT give permission for anyone to use MY wand-"Harry shouted.  
  
"No offense or anything," Ron whispered to Fiona. "He gets like this sometimes."  
  
"I can not BELIEVE-"  
  
"Harry shut up! She's about to start talking again!" Ginny warned. Harry quieted down quickly but one look at his face and Fiona shifted farther away from Harry- and ended up right next to Fred.  
  
"That's alright- you can share with me," Fred said smiling at her. "Don't listen to him." He added, putting his arm around her and giving her a squeeze.  
  
"A witch, or wizard for that matter, can not get along without a wand and so it has been suggested that the children take a trip to Diagon Alley in order to purchase their school supplies as well as a new wand for Fiona. Of course Molly and I would accompany them to Diagon Alley and we are assuming that we can use Fred and George's shop as a lookout where there will be members standing guard. The day trip is scheduled for the day after Fiona finishes her exams, which will be in a week's time. Dumbledore has decided that Lupin and Moody will be in the apartment above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," Tonks said before walking to her seat.  
  
"Hey Harry- at least no one's stealin your home!" Fred said, frowning.  
  
"Shh! Moody's standin up!" Ginny said. The room fell silent as everyone stared at the little cards intently.  
  
'Peeping Toms are no fun, they could really hurt someone!' The message appeared on Ron's card first. He immediately started yelling. Then it appeared on Harry's.  
  
'Peeping Toms are no fun, they could really hurt someone!' Then it spread to Ginny's, Fred's, and last was George's.  
  
"Alright, everyone quiet!" George said. "Seriously Ron, stop screaming! Nothing will happen if you just shut up!" Ron stopped his whimpering.  
  
"Spying accomplished," Fred said.  
  
"But the meeting's not over!" Ginny protested. "I want to keep watching! Have you at least got any Extendable Ears?"  
  
"Nope, honestly we didn't even think to bring any extras."  
  
"Yeah, we just took a couple cards- didn't even count how many we had when we left," Fred said.  
  
"How are we supposed to know when Dumbledore arrives?" Harry asked.  
  
"I wouldn't worry," Ginny said. "He'll probably come talk to you anyways. After all, he did order you to be taken from the Dursley's house. But I'll see you later. If we're going to Diagon Alley early, I want to write Dean!" Ron rolled his eyes at her as she walked out the door.  
  
"Ok so now where are you two off to?" Ron inquired.  
  
"What are you talking about, we're staying right here all night," George said, laughing.  
  
"Oi, come on!" Ron said.  
  
"Don't worry, we're going. Come on Fiona, we'll take you on a tour!" Fred said, grabbing her hand and practically pulling her out of the room.  
  
"Harry- how was your birthday? Accept my apology for not being there, but I'm sure you've heard of the current predicament."  
  
"Professor Dumbledore! I didn't hear you come in," Harry started.  
  
"I can not stay for very long, I was just stopping by to see how you were doing," Dumbledore said, walking over and taking a seat next to Harry. "Of course you are not feeling the same yet, but do not worry- soon you will be able to deal with certain- circumstances. Have you been having any trouble recently? Professor Snape could make you a sleeping potion." Harry just looked at him, deciding if he wanted to tell Dumbledore about the dreams, the constant misery.  
  
"Actually Professor-"Harry began.  
  
"A potion will be delivered to your room before you sleep tonight- drink the whole thing at once," Dumbledore cautioned him, not even giving him time to finish. Harry looked at him and was surprised to see him looking rather upset.  
  
"Now I wanted to talk to you about a certain army of yours," he added with a smile. "I have decided to reestablish Dumbledore's Army. You will still be in charge, of course. However, it will be run a bit differently. So that this does not look like an act of treason, as the Minister seems to consider it- we will make it appear as if it were a class. I have already found a teacher and there will be short examinations that simply test the skills that will be learned. There will be a definite class time, of course. What I need you to do is notify the existing members- and possibly some new ones- of the status of the army. I think you should be able to do that tomorrow with Hermione of course."  
  
"Hermione's here?" Harry asked, surprised. He hadn't even received a letter from her in a long time.  
  
"Yes, she is just downstairs. Her parents were a little anxious to part with her, but I calmed them. She will come up to see you after I leave. There is one last thing, Harry-"Dumbledore said. "You should continue your Occlumency lessons this summer. I will personally be taking over your Occlumency training. The first lesson will be on after your History of Magic exam during tea."  
  
"Thank-you Professor," Harry said, remembering how horrible lessons with Snape were.  
  
"Now, I must be leaving but before I go, is there anything you wish to ask me, Harry?"  
  
"Well, sir. I was wondering if you could tell me about Fiona," Harry asked quietly. For a second, he thought he saw a glimmer in Dumbledore's eye, but he blinked and it was gone.  
  
"Harry, I do not think it is I who should be telling you about Fiona- but I will ask this of you. Befriend her- it's what she needs most right now. None of her friends survived. She is very confused in her new surroundings. I think the two of you could learn a lot about yourselves by being together. And with that, I must leave you Harry. I will see you in two days time. Now, where have those Weasley twins gone off? I can never seem to find them-" Dumbledore smiled at Harry before he turned to leave. Harry sat on his bed, thinking. Dumbledore had not given him new information on Fiona- but he had asked Harry to be her friend.  
  
"Harry! How are you?" Hermione said, racing into the room and pulling Harry off the bed to give him a hug. Ron walked in blushing from ear to ear and Harry guessed he got a hug too. "I heard about your History of Magic exam- that's just terrible, Harry, really! At least you get to take it over! Do you need help studying?"  
  
"How did you do?" Harry asked ignoring her inquiry, because he knew she was dying to tell him her own scores. Ron was snickering behind her.  
  
"Ten 'Outstandings' and one 'Exceeds Expectations'. Honestly, I don't know why they're even counting Astrology at all!" Harry laughed; having only one Exceeds Expectations would upset only Hermione. "But don't worry- I'm leaving you now because I know you need to get some rest. Here, this is from Snape." Hermione added, shoving a goblet in his direction before dragging Ron out the door.  
  
Finally the day had come for Harry to retake his History of Magic examination. As he sat in the kitchen waiting for the exam to begin he looked over and noticed that Fiona looked extremely nervous- she was taking her exams in half the normal time with hardly any preparation- compared to what most fifth years at Hogwart's had. Harry wasn't so nervous- he couldn't possibly get a worse grade this time than the last. Besides, Tonks had given them a pretty good review. He just had to sit there and wait.  
  
The test wasn't so bad. He finished a couple minutes early and was silently laughing to himself about all the names he had made up for a goblin revolt he had never heard of. He looked over at Fiona who was furiously writing pages and pages of essays. He probably wrote half as much as she did but he didn't let it worry him. After the test, Harry went to meet Dumbledore in a room on the third floor.  
  
That's all for today...I hope that you liked my chapter. If you did, please review.... 


	5. Chapter Five: The End of Summer

Ok, I still own nothing.......(except Fiona, she is mine)  
  
Please review if you have a chance! Please....  
  
And special thanks to my betas, Lyds and dreamermarie!!  
  
Chapter 5: The End of Summer  
  
"How are your occlumency lessons?" Hermione asked Harry as they waited for Ron to find his wand- he seemed to have lost it somewhere in his old school books.  
  
"Er- they're ok," Harry said. "Much better than they were with Snape, anyways."  
  
"Aha! I found it!" Ron called from under the bed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief- at least now he wouldn't have to talk about Occlumency with Hermione. He didn't want to admit that the lessons were even harder than with Snape- although this time Harry felt as if he were improving.  
  
'Because Dumbledore actually wants me to succeed' Harry thought.  
  
"I think we should start heading downstairs," Harry said, furthering his effort to dissuade Hermione from asking more questions about Occlumency.  
  
"I can't believe they're letting us go to Diagon Alley- I'm so excited! I can't wait to look through all the books- Mum and Dad gave me some extra money for my birthday," Hermione rambled. Harry let out a sigh of relief, now he wouldn't have to talk about Occlumency.  
  
"Well personally, I can't wait to see Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," Ron said.  
  
"Fred and George never took you to their shop?" Hermione asked.  
  
"It's not Fred and George- it's Mum. Who knows if we'll even be able to go-"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous Ron, of course we have to go there- where else would we be leaving our packages?"  
  
"Come on, Ron! Mum's in a snit already because you're late!" Ginny said, poking her head around the door. She glared at Ron before slamming the door behind her.  
  
"Well, let's go before mum gets really upset. Harry are you all right? You're looking rather pale," Ron said looking in Harry's direction as he opened the door.  
  
"Fine, just a little tired is all," Harry answered. "Come on, let's go. And Hermione, if you say anything about the Potions work-"  
  
"I wasn't going to say anything- even if I think you should have finished all the assignments with the old books," Hermione said before walking out the door. Ron eyed Harry suspiciously but walked out the door anyway.  
  
Less than half an hour later saw them inside the flat that Fred and George shared. It looked like the typical bachelor pad- albeit a pricey one.  
  
"Don't sit on those!" Fred called out to Ron, who looked as if he was about to slide comfortably onto one of the sofas.  
  
"They're genuine dragon hide!" George added.  
  
"However, if the Ladies are tired," Fred began, trying to act posh as he eyed Fiona. Fiona and Hermione sat awkwardly next to each other on one of the several loveseats that were strewn about the spacious room.  
  
"That doesn't mean you Gin- you can stand with Ron," George said, looking up from a stack of forms that were on the 'kitchen' table. Everyone knew that Fred and George's kitchen was just for show as they still ate meals prepared by Mrs. Weasley. Suddenly, Mrs. Weasley climbed out of the fireplace.  
  
"Morning Mum," Fred said. "Where is everyone else?" Tonks, Moody, and Lupin were still not there yet.  
  
"On their way- now you five listen to me-"Mrs. Weasley started, looking at Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Fiona. She was obviously ignoring Fred and George.  
  
"Stick to the main shops- don't go wandering about and Knockturn Alley is strictly forbidden- is that clear? Don't bother Fred and George all day either- they're extremely busy in their shop. Ron- I'm counting on you to get your books alone. Ginny we have most of yours- except your Defense Against the Dark Arts- but don't worry I'll pick that one up for you. Have fun, Tonks and I will be walking around just to make sure everything is ok and watch out for Fiona- she doesn't know her way around like the rest of you. One more thing- your list here says that you need dress robes again this year. Ron- stop making those faces it won't be that bad. I know you've grown out of your old one-"  
  
"Mum, please. Whatever we need them for- I'm not going," Ron said with a look of utmost loathing on his face.  
  
"Of course you're going, Ron. Imagine, mum's little Ronnie not going? Simply absurd!" Fred said, grinning. Mrs. Weasley gave him a glaring look. "Of course you are going Ron, because George and I are going to pay for robes for you and Ginny. Consider them early birthday presents," he added hastily.  
  
"Yes, yes. Just go to Madam Malkin's. We already informed her and she'll be adding them to our account," George said, not even bothering to look up from his papers.  
  
"Account? You have an account? How extremely ridiculous! How many times do I have to tell you not to squander all your money away! Fred, you sit down right here and George, stop with those absurd papers-"Mrs. Weasley scolded.  
  
"We'll be going then- see you later mum. Yes we know, we'll be back by four o'clock sharp," Ron said hurriedly as he and Ginny pulled Harry, Hermione, and Fiona down a flight of stairs. They walked out a door and into the back room of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  
  
"Mum and the twins are always in a row about money," Ron said.  
  
"I don't understand why- it's their money," Ginny said. "And besides, they offered to buy our dress robes- no more second hand shops for me! They're awful generous you know." Ron just rolled his eyes at her, but didn't complain. He ruined his pair of second hand robes two years before by trying to charm the lace off the cuffs. It worked- if you didn't count the frayed edges, which Ron didn't. He briefly remembered the dress robes that Fred and George had given him and then he remembered that Fred had stolen them back several weeks ago. Every time Ron brought them up, Fred started talking about something totally different and George simply started talking about the shop. Ron assumed he would never see them again.  
  
"Look at this place," Harry said, in awe. It was the most marvelous storeroom he had ever seen. Ron looked around.  
  
Large boxes took up a whole corner and there were rows and rows of what appeared to be- well, things. There was no other way to describe the creations that lay across tables or were scattered about the floor. Opposite the boxes stood a row of cauldrons. The wall behind each cauldron was scorched different colors from various explosions. Up along the ceiling, there were several doodads that were just flying around; occasionally one would dive to about eye level. A licorice stick hit Ron in the back of the head.  
  
"Ow! That hurt!" He cried out.  
  
"Let's get to the front of the shop before something else flies at us," Hermione advised. She was cautiously looking at a gobstone that was flying extremely close to a simmering cauldron. "How do we get out of here?"  
  
"There's a door," Fiona pointed out.  
  
"Alright, let's go. How come no one's in the store?" Hermione said, as she walked through.  
  
"Not open yet," Ginny assumed, shrugging.  
  
If Harry thought the storage room was astonishing, then there were no words to describe the store itself. Everything about it was bright and all around hung various products- there were signs everywhere that told what products were and where they were located. There was even a list of people who wanted to be testers of new practical jokes. Ron secretly thought them to be mad. A large picture of Fred and George was on the very center of the back wall.  
  
"A bit vain aren't they?" Ron asked, laughing as he saw the picture. True to real life, the twins were- well being the twins. "I think the picture of themselves shows off more than they do!" Harry and Ron hooted with laughter as the Fred in the picture fed George a candy and watched as George turned into a giant yellow canary.  
  
"Ok then, Hermione and I will take Fiona to get all her new things while you two waste time," Ginny said, taking charge as everyone else was staring wide-eyed at the store. Apparently, she was the only one who had already been there. "Meet us at Florean Fortecue's Ice Cream Parlor by two o'clock!" And with that, she was out the door. Hermione and Fiona followed while Ron and Harry stared in awe.  
  
"Who does she think she is?" Ron said.  
  
"Come on, Ron we've got a lot of stuff to buy. I have to stop at Gringotts, you?" Harry said, walking out the door.  
  
Fiona looked a little nervous as she handed her key to the goblin behind the desk at Gringotts.  
  
"Come on- it's lots of fun to ride through the vaults!" Ginny said, eagerly following the goblin's lead. Hermione looked a little skeptical and Fiona, trusting Hermione's judgment much more than Ginny's, looked extremely nervous.  
  
When they got to the cart, Hermione sat down, trying to position herself so she couldn't see out the top of the cart. Ginny squealed in delight as the cart went faster and deeper into some unknown cave. Fiona tried to memorize where they were going but after three lefts, a right, two lefts, and a loop she had no idea where she was. It felt like eons to Fiona before they finally stopped. Ginny was her usual chipper self but Hermione appeared a little green. Fiona, although not as bad off as Hermione- wasn't feeling too great after the ride to her vault  
  
The goblin opened the door to Fiona's vault and she peered in. A look of shock came across her face as she saw piles and piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins. She quickly scooped out some money and signaled to the goblin that she was ready to go.  
  
"Hermione- are you alright?" Ginny asked, staring down at the sitting Hermione.  
  
"Just a little motion sickness is all- I'll be fine when we leave," Hermione said and with that, the cart started moving again.  
  
When they were back at the bank, Hermione stumbled out of the cart. Ginny and Fiona looked at her and each took one arm to make sure she had her balance.  
  
"You sure you're alright?" Fiona asked, looking at the brief look of terror on Hermione's face.  
  
"I'm fine- glad I don't have to do that every time I need a bit of gold!" Hermione said, trying to laugh off her weakness. She turned to Fiona. "We should probably get you a wand first. Ollivander's is up the street- best place there is."  
  
When the got to the store, it seemed as if Mr. Ollivander had been waiting for them.  
  
"This is Fiona. She is going to be a sixth year student this year," Hermione said to Mr. Ollivander.  
  
"Ah, yes- Fiona. I've been expecting you for quite some time," He started. Something about him made Fiona a little uneasy, as if he could read her mind. "Well, now let's see. Hold out your wand arm please."  
  
Fiona lifted her right arm obediently and a tape measure instantly began taking measurements. It measured how long her arm was, around her wrist, the length of her pinkie finger. She didn't even notice it had continued taking measurements, instead she watched as Mr. Ollivander walked up and down the rows of wands. Ginny giggled as the tape measure finished measuring the circumference of Fiona's head and then began measuring the length of her nose. Mr. Ollivander muttered something and the tape measurer crumpled to the floor.  
  
"Try this one," he said, walking towards her. "Maple and Dragon-heart string. Nine and a half inches. Rather whippy. Give it a little wave."  
  
Before Fiona could even think about moving her arm, he had snatched it back.  
  
"No, no that won't do. Here try this- Yew and Phoenix feather; twelve inches." This time he let her hold if for several seconds before he grabbed it back.  
  
"Hmm, not to worry dear- Willow and Unicorn hair; eight inches."  
  
He went through several more wands in this fashion, growing more and more excited as he went. He was destined to find her wand, even if it killed him. Fiona blushed as each wand was put back in the box. He had created a large pile with the discarded wands and the stack almost touched the ceiling.  
  
"Hmm, just perhaps- yes I think this may work. Willow and Unicorn hair; ten inches." Fiona took the wand once more, not knowing what to expect. She felt immediate warmth in her fingertips and her face lit up. She lightly swished the wand and reddish gold sparks came cascading out.  
  
"Wonderful!" Mr. Ollivander said, obviously pleased with himself. Fiona paid him the seven galleons for the wand and hurriedly walked out of the shop with Hermione leading the way.  
  
"Ok, this way to Madam Malkin's," Hermione said. She led Fiona to the robe shop but stopped before they went inside. "I forgot to send something through the owl post, mind waiting here for me while I go send it quickly?"  
  
"Sure, just make sure you don't get into trouble," Ginny warned. She waited until Hermione walked away before she turned to Fiona and said, "I was supposed to meet Dean here a little while ago- would it be alright if I went to meet him. I'll only be gone a couple minutes."  
  
"Sure," Fiona said, nervously walking into the shop. She looked around- she could only see one other person in the store- a blonde boy. His hair was slicked back and he had an extremely bored expression on his face. He appeared to be around Fiona's age.  
  
"Need help, dear? New Hogwarts robes I presume?" A witch who Fiona presumed was Madame Malkin asked her. She took Fiona by the arm and pulled her to the back of the room.  
  
"Yes and I need a winter coat with-"  
  
"Silver fastenings? And a new dress robe, eh? You're a bit old for a first year, don't you think?"  
  
The blonde boy perked up at this. He was blatantly listening to their conversation and didn't seem to care if Fiona noticed or not.  
  
"Yes, but actually I'm a sixth year. Just a new student is all."  
  
"Hogwart's doesn't just let new students in," the boy said lazily. Fiona shrugged as Madam Malkin began pinning her robes.  
  
"Go on now, pick out your dress robes while I fix you up a set of these." Fiona stepped off the stool she had been standing on.  
  
"Name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."  
  
"Fiona," she told him, not understanding his sudden interest in her. His eyes followed her throughout the room. Hermione and Ginny burst in at the same time.  
  
"Sorry to leave you-"Hermione started.  
  
"Did you find anything yet?" Ginny asked. They both stopped when they saw Draco. The two did their best to ignore him but they couldn't help shooting dirty looks at him from over the racks.  
  
"He say anything to you?" Hermione asked, as she compared two different shades of Indigo.  
  
"Just his name," Fiona answered. The girls quickly picked out their dress robes and left the store.  
  
"How weird! He didn't even say anything, he just watched us," Ginny marveled.  
  
"Not us," Hermione said casting a sideways glance at Fiona. "Something about that wasn't quite right. Let's go to the Apothecary next."  
  
"Ick- that store smells," Ginny said wrinkling her nose.  
  
"Fiona needs all her potions supplies and I have to stock up on my own," Hermione told her. "Let's just get it out of the way." They hurried through the Apothecary as fast as possible. Outside they saw Ron and Harry who both looked skeptical about going in.  
  
"Let's get our books next- we can stock them in Fiona's cauldron until we've dropped them off at the flat," Ginny suggested. Hermione and Ginny pushed Fiona in the direction of the Flourish and Blotts.  
  
The girls stayed in the bookstore for some time. Hermione couldn't decide which N.E.W.T. prep books she wanted and refused to listen to Ginny or Fiona when they told her the exams weren't for another year. She ended up buying both along with the rest of her schoolbooks. Fiona ended up buying an extra book too. She picked a book whose main focus was using a crystal ball. Hermione snorted when she saw the cover.  
  
"A bit impractical, don't you think?"  
  
"If you don't know what you're doing," Fiona said, waiting to see if Hermione understood her insinuation.  
  
"I understand perfectly well- they're expensive pieces of rubbish!" Hermione bellowed before stalking away. Fiona just watched her go as she finished paying for her things.  
  
"Ginny- wait. I got you something," Fiona said.  
  
"What?" Ginny asked unable to hide the smile on her face.  
  
"I got you a Quick-Quotes Quill."  
  
"Really? That will help so much in History of Magic. Thanks a ton," Ginny said astonished, while looking at the quill.  
  
"I thought you wanted to drop all this off?" Hermione asked when they got outside and began walking down the street. "Fred and George live over there." She added, steering them in the right direction.  
  
"Need anything else?" Ginny asked as they walked out of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. At the moment, an extremely hefty witch whose son had bought a large amount of canary creams was hollering at Fred and the girls thought it better to leave the store quickly than get in the middle of the argument.  
  
"I was thinking of getting an owl. What do you think?" Fiona asked.  
  
"They are really useful," Ginny said, secretly hoping Fiona would get an owl she could use so she wouldn't have to worry about Ron finding anymore notes from Dean.  
  
"Well, Eeylops Owl Emporium is over there we can go there before-"  
  
"We head to Quality Quidditch Supplies!" Ginny exclaimed. Hermione glared at her. "Oh, alright. No Quality Quidditch Supplies today- it is getting late." She added, failing to hide her disappointment.  
  
Fiona glanced at her watch- it was almost quarter to two! The girls quickly walked into the owl shop and in no time, Fiona had a new owl named Sayuri. Then they ventured over to Florean Fortescue's where Harry and Ron had already saved them seats and apparently ordered them ice cream, as there were three already melting sundaes on the table.  
  
"You're late," Ron said with a smug look on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
Everyone ate their ice cream as Harry and Ron talked about all the new things they saw in Quality Quidditch Supplies.  
  
"Why do you look so glum Harry?" Fiona asked.  
  
"Harry's got a lifetime ban from Quidditch," Ron said smirking.  
  
"It isn't funny!" Harry shouted.  
  
"Of course isn't- it's just everyone knows that it's going to be lifted. Umbridge had no right giving it to you in the first place," Ron said hastily, hoping Harry wouldn't start shouting in the middle of Diagon Alley.  
  
"Oooh, I do wish someone gave that Umbridge a nice dose of Veritaserum!" Ginny whined.  
  
"She was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor last year," Hermione told Fiona.  
  
"Why-"Fiona started to ask but didn't get to finish.  
  
"If it isn't Harry Potter," a cold voice sneered behind him.  
  
"What do you want?" Harry said, immediately standing up. The rest of the table stood up and got behind him. Fiona stood up and followed Ginny, turning to see whom they were all glaring at. Draco Malfoy stood opposite Harry. Behind him stood Crabbe and Goyle, who were sneering at Harry.  
  
"A new student? I should have known it would be another Mudblood- lover. Dumbledore has got to be stopped."  
  
"Right, Malfoy- like you could ever-"  
  
"Shut it, Weasley! I'd watch my back if I were you- your kind aren't tolerated in Diagon Alley anymore." He drew out his wand and held it high over his head. "Unfortunately for you, if you play by the rules you never get ahead. A-"  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, boy." Moody appeared almost out of nowhere. He glared at the trio before him. A look of shock and panic appeared on Draco's face. He hit Crabbe and Goyle on the shoulder and they immediately turned around and walked in the opposite direction without another word.  
  
"Alright, get movin'. Back to Fred and George's on the double!" Moody growled, his eye checking to make sure each person was safe. As they walked back towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Moody's magical eye was spinning so fast in his head that Harry doubted he could actually see anything that was going on.  
  
"I don't think we'll be going back to Diagon Alley for a while," Harry said, glumly.  
  
"Me either. What do you think Draco was up to?" Ron asked.  
  
"He apparently sided with the death-eaters. Wouldn't be surprised if the dark mark was glowing on his arm as we speak," Harry replied.  
  
"He's still scared of Moody, though. Gosh this Potions is dull!" Ron complained, glaring at his potions essay and secretly wishing there was a spell to make it finish itself.  
  
"Shh! I've had to reread this paragraph twice since you started talking," Hermione snapped.  
  
"Hermione I don't think we'll be covering page eight hundred and seventy five for sometime," Harry said.  
  
"You can never be too ahead in Potions work!"  
  
"Yes Hermione, yes you can," Ron retorted. "Well, I think that's about all I can make up for this essay. What do you think? One and a half rolls of parchment good enough?"  
  
"Our letter says two, Ron."  
  
"Yes Hermione, I see that, but I can't help thinking that since it has such a lovely beginning and conclusion that maybe- just maybe- it will make up for being about two paragraphs short." He smirked at her, causing her to scowl in her book.  
  
"You two have got to learn to take your school work seriously! You ask for my help then talk about rubbish and interrupt my reading-"  
  
"Malfoy being a death-eater is not rubbish, Hermione," Harry said harshly.  
  
"Maybe not, but talking about Quidditch and the couches in the twins' apartment is not exactly scholarly, now is it?"  
  
"But we admit they were awful nice couches. I mean come on, that dragon hide was just amazing!" Ron said, but his smile faded when he saw the look on Hermione's face. "Alright, alright. We'll try harder. You are such a killjoy sometimes, you know that?" Hermione just looked at him.  
  
"Say Harry, where's Fiona?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Dunno. You know how she is- she makes herself scarce. Why?"  
  
"Just wondering. The most peculiar thing happened while we were in Madam Malkin's. Draco was there- but he didn't say anything at all. He just stared- with malice of course, but still. He wasn't even looking at Ginny or me- he followed Fiona's every move. I don't get it."  
  
"That is strange. Why would she be so important to Malfoy?" Harry asked.  
  
"Probably the same reason she's so important to Dumbledore," Ron muttered.  
  
"And Voldemort! I bet she was the reason that Diso was attacked," Harry thought aloud. Ron flinched at Voldemort's name; Hermione didn't even notice it.  
  
"But why? It makes no sense- she's not very special," Ron said.  
  
"How do you know Ron?" Hermione asked accusingly.  
  
"Oh, come off it! We'll just have to pay extra attention. I'll write George and see if he'll send some more of those card things."  
  
"There's not another meeting until after we leave for school, though. And I already asked Dumbledore about her and he wouldn't tell me," Harry said.  
  
"Do you think maybe Fiona knows?" Hermione inquired.  
  
"Doubt it- besides you'd have to get her to talk to you before you could find out. When do we leave for school anyhow?" Ron asked.  
  
"Why do you always get so sidetracked Ron? We leave in a few days. I think she's just shy though. Imagine how you would feel if you suddenly found yourself in a different country without any family or friends," Hermione said reasonably.  
  
"We're her friends!" Ron protested.  
  
"-But what if she doesn't get put in Gryffindor when we get to Hogwart's? Think about it Ron- besides we've been friends since our first year and she just got here- she must feel dreadfully out of place! I don't think she trusts us too much either," Hermione answered.  
  
"Did mum just call us down to dinner?" Ron asked. Hermione just shook her head before she closing her book and walking out of the room. "What? What did I do now? Honestly, I don't think I will ever understand her!" Harry just laughed.  
  
"Come on, Ron. Let's go get some dinner. I think I've about had it with this essay, too. Mind you- mine's a lot closer to two scrolls than yours."  
  
That's all for today...I hope that you liked my chapter. If you did, please review.... 


	6. Chapter 6: Back to School

12

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, obviously.........

Special thanks to my beta, Dreamermarie! And more special thanks to Severus' Wife for pointing out my little blunder and to downwithfudge and sentinel-witch thanks for taking the time to review, it is much appreciated!

Chapter 6: Back to School

Several weeks (and Potions assignments) later found Harry waiting to board the Hogwart's Express. Harry was not sure how he felt about going back to Hogwart's, but he knew it was a lot better than staying in Grimmauld Place without Sirius. He just wasn't sure what was going to happen now that Fred and George were not attending school.

"Don't look so glum," George said to him. Mrs. Weasley had forced Fred and George to come see everyone off at the school train.

"Yeah, it won't be so bad. At least Umbridge is gone," Fred added with a smirk, thinking about the swamp that he and George had put in a corridor the year before.

"Where do you think she is anyhow?" George asked.

"I don't want to know," Harry answered.

"Harry! Ron! Why don't you help Fiona get her trunk on the train?" Mrs. Weasley called out.

"I don't think so," Fred interrupted.

"We shall help Fiona put her trunk on the train," George said, walking over to where Fiona was standing. Hermione rolled her eyes as she picked up her own trunk and half dragged it to the train.

"Allow me," Fred said, bowing practically to the floor before picking up one end of Fiona's trunk while George picked up the other. Then they carried her trunk onto the train and set it in the compartment where Ron and Harry had put theirs.

After all the trunks were on the train, everyone reassembled by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to say one last farewell. Mrs. Weasley fought back tears as she hugged and kissed everyone good-bye.

"Be careful this year- things may be a bit different than you remember them," Mr. Weasley said, shaking Harry's hand. After everyone said one last good-bye, they hurried onto the train before it began its departure.

Harry walked back to the compartment they had saved earlier. He opened the door and looked down. Luna Lovegood was sitting in the seat closest to the door and was apparently reading a copy of i _The Quibbler_ /i . Harry refrained from rolling his eyes and instead, walked to the end of the compartment and took a seat next to the window. Hermione took the empty seat next to him and Ron sat across. Ginny didn't even bother coming into the compartment since she had already found Dean. Fiona sat across from Luna and was looking at her with an odd expression on her face. Luna was pretending to read her newspaper sideways. Every so often she would glance over the top and beam at Ron, who was totally oblivious to her.

"So," Ron started, not sure of what he was even going to say.

"When are we starting DA meetings?" Luna asked, temporarily abandoning her newspaper and the article on Ancient Runes that she was reading.

"No clue," Harry said. "Dumbledore turned it into a class. I guess it will show up on our schedules." He turned to look out the window.

"Oh," Ron said stupidly. "Say, anyone want to play gobstones?" He asked.

"Not now, Ron. We have to report to the prefect compartment," Hermione said.

"Alright, see you later mate," Ron said to Harry as he walked out of the compartment behind Hermione. He stopped for a second when he saw Luna staring at him. He muttered i '_weird_' /i under his breath before continuing out of the compartment. Harry sat in his seat and looked out the window. Soon Luna started talking to Fiona.

"Ever seen a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Luna asked her.

"Um, no. I don't think I have," Fiona said with an amused expression on her face. i _'I'm glad _she_ thinks Luna is amusing!'_ /i Harry thought to himself. He then had to sit and listen to Luna explain everything about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack while Fiona sat there smiling as if she were extremely interested. i _'Well, maybe she is interested but I sure am not!'_ /i Harry thought. Luckily, Ron and Hermione came back right as Luna was about to explain the mating process.

"Well, we've got the new password!" Ron said. "It's going to be i '_quaffle'_ /i ."

"Guess who picked it," Hermione added testily. Harry ignored their quarreling.

"Oh and Fiona, I'm really sorry about this but Professor McGonagall sent an owl and you're to go with the first years when we get to Hogwart's. Really sorry- you've got to be sorted and everything," Hermione said. A smile came across Ron's face.

"Don't even think about it Ron. Don't listen to anything anyone tells you, Fiona. It's not so bad- a little humiliating really, but otherwise it's alright," Hermione said as she began telling Fiona about the sorting hat. Ron scowled remembering how Fred and George had tricked him into believing the sorting would actually be painful.

Presently, Ginny walked into the compartment.

"What do you want?" Ron demanded rudely.

"I'm just letting you know that we're almost to Hogwart's and we should start getting ready!" Ginny snapped at him. Both Ginny and Hermione glared at Ron. Everyone started getting their robes.

"Just pull your robe over your clothes. We'll get fully changed later," Hermione said, noticing Fiona looking warily at Ron and Harry. "Oh, the train's slowing!"

"Leave your things here," Harry said pointing to Fiona's trunk and owl cage. She nodded but didn't respond. Hermione was looking at Fiona, wondering if she would ever let anyone be her friend.

"Oh, and just to warn you about Hagrid-"Hermione started as the train came to a slow stop.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" A familiar voice called. Harry looked over and waved to Hagrid who was standing near hoards of trembling first years. "Ello there 'arry!" He called back.

Hermione walked Fiona over to where the first years were standing. Fiona was a good head taller than most of the first years and looked awfully out of place. Hermione felt bad for her and hoped that Dumbledore wasn't expecting Fiona to get sorted in front of the whole school with the other first years.

"Any more firs' years? Follow me and mind yer step! Firs' years, follow me!" He bellowed. "Alrigh' let's go!" He called out to the first years and began leading them in the opposite direction of the other students. Fiona looked longingly at Harry and Ron as she saw them walking over to a large carriage before she started following Hagrid. She followed him up a steep, windy path. She kept right behind him and ignored all of the other first years that were meandering about and staring at everything. One boy almost got lost when he started straying from the path and Fiona could have sworn she heard someone whisper i _"Hufflepuff for sure."_ /i 

"Jus' round this bend yeh'll get yer first view o' Hogwart's," He called out. Fiona almost stopped as the castle came into view. The panorama was more beautiful than anything Fiona had ever seen. Off in the distance, Fiona thought she saw a dragon, but she could have been mistaken.

"Four to a boat!" Hagrid called out. Fiona looked down; she hadn't noticed the little cluster of boats. Hagrid took one to himself. Fiona climbed into the one directly next to him. Three boys followed and kept whispering obnoxiously. Occasionally she heard snippets of what they were saying. Two of the boys were hoping to be put in Slytherin and the third quickly became labeled muggle-born, as he had no clue about any of the houses. He was immediately pushed away from the other two boys who then began to ridicule Fiona and wonder how stupid she was for being such an old first year. Fiona just looked at them and smiled as she ducked under a curtain of ivy while they got hit in the face.

Soon, they reached the castle and the students began scrambling out of the boats and hastily following Hagrid. They followed him up large, stone steps. Hagrid pounded on two large oak doors with his oversized fist.

The doors swung open immediately. Standing directly behind the doors was a stern-looking witch in emerald green robes that had her hair pulled tightly into a bun. Fiona remembered her from the Order meetings she had watched with Fred. The witch stared down at all the first years. She looked at Fiona and it seemed that a small smile crept across her face. Fiona blinked and it was gone.

"Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank-you, Hagrid. Follow me please," she said towards the first years and Fiona.

Fiona followed Professor McGonagall through the giant oak doors and into the biggest entrance hall she had ever seen. She couldn't see the ceiling; it was up so high. The Professor brought them into a small room- past where Fiona could hear all of the other students talking and laughing. After everyone finished crowding into the tiny room, Professor McGonagall began talking.

"Welcome. The start-of-term banquet is about to begin. However, before it does each of you will be sorted into one of the four houses- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Your house will become your new family while you're here at Hogwart's. You will eat meals and take classes with members of your house. Your free time will be spent in your house common rooms," she paused before continuing, "each house has its own history that you shall learn later if you so choose. First you must understand that while here, any wrongdoing will lead to a deduction of points to your house, and vice versa. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. Now, the ceremony will begin shortly, good luck and please wait quietly." Then she left. As soon as the door closed behind her, the first years began talking and spreading rumors about how you were sorted. Fiona smirked as she watched the first years grow more and more horrified as new stories were told.

"Harry Potter!" a small voice squeaked in Harry's direction. Harry looked all around before he felt something pull his robes. He looked down to see the big toothy grin of Dobby the house elf.

"Hello Dobby," Harry said.

"I must speak with Harry Potter! A warning," Dobby said, looking at Harry.

"Ok, Dobby. I'll meet you in the kitchens after the ceremony," Harry said, about to turn around.

"No, no! Dobby must talk now! He must speak with the great Harry Potter right away!"

"Dobby, I'll miss the sorting!"

"Harry Potter i _must_ /i come with Dobby!"

"Oh, alright! But I have to get back quickly!" Harry said reluctantly, as Dobby pulled him away from the other students and through a tiny door. "Dobby, where are we? And when did this door get here?"

"Our tunnels are much faster than your great hallways, Harry Potter."

"If you say so," Harry said uncomfortably- the house elf passageways were a little small.

"Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter. Harry Potter is the greatest wizard alive and he is Dobby's friend-"

"Ok Dobby, really what did you want to tell me?" Dobby looked skeptical for a moment. "Dobby, I forbid you to hurt yourself." Harry added, holding Dobby's arms so he couldn't move.

"Oh, thank you! You is too kind, you is. Now Dobby must tell you- _be careful_ Harry Potter!"

"Dobby, I know to be careful-"

"But they is being watched and you too, Harry Potter- without you even knowing it!"

"How? Who- students?" Harry asked, accidentally letting go of Dobby's arms.

"Yes! The, the i _Sl_ /i -"Dobby started before he started pulling his ears and howling.

"Enough!" Harry shouted, grabbing Dobby's arms.

"I is a bad house elf, I is. I must go Harry Potter, but you will visit me?" Dobby asked hopefully, rubbing the ears that he himself had damaged.

"Of course, Dobby," Harry said. "Oh here- you dropped something." Harry handed over the piece of paper that was lying next to Dobby.

"Thank-you Harry Potter- you truly are the greatest!" Dobby said, before running in the opposite direction.

"I might be the greatest, but I might not be able to get out of here!" Harry said aloud to himself before turning around and opening what he hoped was the same door he came in. He was thankful that it was. He quickly went to the Gryffindor table and hoped that someone had saved him a seat. Luckily, Hermione did.

"Later," he whispered to her as she raised her eyebrows at him. The ceremony had already begun and almost all the first years had been sorted. Fiona was last, but there were only four people in front of her. The last first year "Zindler, Thomas" was sorted into Hufflepuff. Then it was Fiona's turn. She sat on the stool awkwardly as she was much to big for it. She heard more than a few snickers as the hat was lowered onto her head. However, it hardly hovered above her head before it called out her house.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Fiona heard the name echo across the hall. The Gryffindor table burst out into applause while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were giving a standing ovation. Even Professor Dumbledore seemed pleased.

As Fiona sat down and the cheering at the Gryffindor table subsided, Professor Dumbledore stood up. The hall immediately became silent.

"Welcome students- new and old. And now please, enjoy." With that Dumbledore sat down and threw his long beard over his shoulder. Fiona looked perplexed until she saw large golden platters filled with food. Ron's plate was already half full while Hermione was helping herself to the platter of potatoes. Harry was apparently whispering something in Ron's ear.

"Tha's nith, Hawy," Ron said with his mouth full of food. Hermione looked at him with disdain and turned away to eat her own food. Fiona sat and listened to everyone else throughout dinner while she ate. Harry introduced her to everyone at the table, including Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati. Lavender and Parvati kept giggling and looking in Dean and Seamus' direction. Harry noticed that although Dean and was talking with Ginny, he kept stealing looks at Lavender and Parvati. Harry found himself wondering how long Ginny would stay happy with Dean.

Hermione was trying her best to ignore Ron- who was now taking dessert from every platter in his reach. She ended up trying to talk to Fiona, but Fiona wasn't listening. Instead, she was looking over at the Slytherin table.

Draco looked up from his dessert to see a pair of green eyes looking at him. He sneered at Fiona before turning to Crabbe and started throwing verbal assaults his way. Crabbe seemed to be ignoring him, or perhaps, he simply couldn't understand him.

After all the platters seemed to be nearly empty, Dumbledore stood up.

"A few start-of-term notices are in order. First, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has updated his list of forbidden objects. I encourage you to check in his office for the full list as most of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes appear to have been added."

"Second, all students should note that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as the name suggests. It is imperative that you pay special attention to this as the forest is even more dangerous than usual."

"Quidditch trials will be held at the end of the second week of this term. Second years and above only. Please speak to Madame Hooch if you wish to try out."

"Finally, this year we will have something completely unprecedented at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This year we shall have a Halloween Ball. Fourth years and above only; other students are permitted to go on invitation. This ball will be different in that it will be a masquerade, but instead of wearing just a mask, students will be required to change their hair color and eye color- even your skin color if you feel up to it. For those of you who are charm-challenged there is always wigs and the like- it makes for good conversation. Dress robes are also a requirement. That is all."

"What is that all about?" Ron asked, completely confused. Harry could see many other people with the same expressions on their faces. A soft murmuring sound seemed to have engulfed the Great Hall as everyone was whispering back and forth.

"Come on, Ron. Really- it's not that difficult! Dumbledore is just trying to promote inter-house unity," Hermione said, glaring at Ron.

"I know but the robes, the masks, the i _dancing_ /i . It's just horrible, maybe I won't go."

"Oh you are definitely going Ron Weasley, even if I have to transfigure you a date. Now let's go, we are supposed to be leading the first years!" Hermione said sighing loudly before calling to all the first years. Ron just followed behind her, motioning for the other two prefects from fifth year to follow quietly.

"You probably should have gone with them," Harry said. "Since you didn't, I'll show you to the common room. We already know the password."

"Not so fast Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said, walking over to them. "I need to see the two of you in my office- right away. I'll be waiting." Harry was confused. He hadn't done anything wrong, that he knew of anyway.

"All right Fiona, let's go to McGonagall's office," Harry said, clearly annoyed that his first day back at Hogwart's was being ruined. It didn't help that on his way out he saw some first year girls ogling him and giggling furiously. Fiona tried hard to keep up with Harry. His legs were longer than hers and she felt like she was practically running next to him. She almost tripped going up the marble stairs and she could have sworn a suit of armor began to laugh at her.

Harry and Fiona finally reached the Professor's office and the Professor motioned Fiona inside.

"Wait our here for a moment, Mr. Potter," she said, shutting the door on him. Fiona felt terrified. Professor McGonagall just walked around her desk and sat in her chair. She motioned for Fiona to take a seat. Fiona sat down and looked around the room, her eyes rested on the welcoming fire.

"Welcome to Hogwart's, Fiona Clarec," McGonagall started. "I have something for you from Professor Dumbledore. He insists that you have this amulet." She opened a drawer in her desk and out floated one of the most striking charms that Fiona had ever seen.

"This amulet is extremely powerful and no one is to know that you have it. You are to wear it at all times. I trust you can keep this a secret? Now, I must stress that it is very important you not tell anyone about this, especially Harry, but it is in both of your best interests that he doesn't know anything about this."

"Yes, Professor thank you," Fiona said hoping the meeting was over; she was feeling a bit tired. She looked at the amulet. It was a crystal-like teardrop on a white gold chain. It was a dark green color and it sparkled in the light. Professor McGonagall muttered something and the amulet fastened itself around Fiona's neck.

"Good luck with your classes, Fiona," Professor McGonagall said. "Could you please inform Potter that I am waiting for him. Thank you."

"Good night, Professor," Fiona said as she opened the door. Harry, who was leaning against the wall outside, stood up immediately.

"My turn?" he asked. "Don't bother waiting."

"Harry, I don't know how to get back-"Fiona started.

"Oh, right. Well, I shouldn't be long then," Harry mumbled before walking into McGonagall's office. Fiona sat on the corridor floor just outside the door. Seeing she was alone, she took her amulet out of her robes to look at. This amulet confused her. So much had changed in her life recently, she didn't know who to trust or what to do anymore. But what did this have to do with Harry? Surely something, or else Professor McGonagall wouldn't have mentioned him.

Inside the office, Harry stood waiting for McGonagall to notice him. He would have been nervous had he not almost been expelled every other year he was at school.

"Please Potter, take a seat," McGonagall said, motioning towards the chairs. Harry sat in the same chair Fiona had just sat in. "Now Mr. Potter. Your ridiculous lifetime ban from Quidditch has been lifted- however, you will be watched closely while on the Quidditch pitch as result. Despite this, it has been decided that you will be made Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Harry stared at her in shock. Not being able to play Quidditch had been one of the worst things to happen to him. He couldn't describe how it felt to be able to play again- and to be i _captain_ /i !

"Thank you, Professor," he stammered; unsure of what he was supposed to say in return.

"Not a problem, Potter- just promise me that you will work with Weasley some more. Also, we are down quite a few players this year- you'd best start scouting right away. Now, I'll keep watch and let you know if I see anyone with potential," the professor added.

"Of course, Professor."

"And one more thing, Potter," She said, opening her drawer. Another amulet floated out. "I trust you can keep this a secret." She began as his amulet clasped itself around his neck. It felt strangely light and he looked down at the yellow gold chain around his neck. The amulet glowed and felt very warm. He sat and listened to Professor McGonagall explain how he must wear the amulet at all times and how it was to be kept a secret- especially from Hermione and Ron. She was about to say something else when a loud banging noise was heard from the hallway. She jumped up immediately and rushed to the door.

Outside, Fiona was posed with her wand outstretched in front of her. Someone was running down the hallway in the opposite direction.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked her. Fiona turned around, noticing the professor and Harry for the first time. "Who was that?"

"Erm, I don't really know," she said looking at Professor McGonagall.

"Was it a student?" Professor McGonagall asked. "Would you like Harry to escort you to the infirmary?"

"Oh! No, no I'm fine- really," she said. Harry looked at her skeptically.

"Well, Potter, that is all. Please hurry back to your common room and be careful!" Professor McGonagall said. "I'll see the both of you tomorrow." Instead of going back into her office, she shut and locked the door. Harry thought she was heading in the direction of Dumbledore's office. When she was gone, Harry turned to Fiona.

"It was Malfoy, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Fiona admitted, looking at the floor.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"He was just being stupid, Harry, nothing serious."

"For now, anyway. Listen, Malfoy's up to no good; before he used to just make fun but now-"

"I don't like him either, you know? Let's go back to the common room," Fiona suggested.

"Good idea."

On their way back to the common room, Harry pointed out different things about Hogwart's to Fiona.

"Watch there, that's a trick step. It'll jam your foot, if you step on it," Harry said, skipping a step on yet another large marble staircase. As they walked he explained about the magical staircases and doors. Apparently, one staircase changed direction- but only on Fridays- and there was a door that you had to politely ask to open itself. Presently, they found themselves facing a portrait of an enormous woman in a pink dress. Fiona suppressed the urge to laugh.

"Password?" she asked.

"Quaffle," Harry answered. The portrait immediately swung open. Behind was the entranceway to the Gryffindor common room. "Fiona, this is the Gryffindor common room."

"Harry! Fiona! You're back!" Hermione said before Fiona could even step in. She looked around. The room was quite cozy with its large fireplaces, comfy couches and armchairs. Many people were there socializing already and talking about their summer holiday. Ron and Lavender were sitting in two armchairs playing chess off in a corner. Harry eyes them suspiciously but didn't say anything, as Ron didn't look like he was having too much fun. Lavender kept giggling and glancing at Parvati, who was sitting in front of a fireplace pretending to read. Every time she giggled, Ron would turn a darker shade of pink.

"What took you so long?" Hermione asked. Harry gave her a look that meant she'd find out later. "No problem. Fiona if you want I'll show you to our room. Harry, Ron said Hedwig has brought you a letter and attacks anyone that enters your room. I guess you'd better go look at it."

"Right," Harry said before walking over to the stairs to get into his dorm.

"Now, boys dormitories are off to the left, girls to the right. Our room just happens to be at the very top of the tower. There's a beautiful view of the lake and grounds- although it is quite a climb. We've been in this dorm since our first year. You, Parvati, Lavender, and Me share a room. We each get a four-poster bed, desk, and dressing table. Plus we have two bathrooms. The boys only get one. Well, I usually use the prefect bathrooms but ours are really nice, too." Fiona tried to take all this information in at once as she climbed the steps behind Hermione.

Well, another chapter is posted! ï I hope you liked it and please, review!


	7. Chapter Seven: Potions and Defense

13

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, obviously.........

Special thanks to my betas, Dreamermarie and icycoolhermione! And more special thanks to White-witch91, Ainasister29, mary boleyn, McGonagall, and Alex! Thanks for taking the time to review, it is much appreciated!

Chapter Seven: Potions and Defense

Harry woke up early the next morning. He sat and looked around the room. Everyone else was still fast asleep in their beds. That didn't bother him much; it just meant he got to use the bathroom first.

"What's gotten into you?" Ron asked, when he woke up over an hour later. Harry could hear a groan coming from Dean's bed and mumbled curses could be heard coming from Seamus's drawn curtains.

"Woke up; couldn't sleep," Harry replied.

"Good. Wait for me and we'll go to breakfast together," Ron said.

In the girls' room, Hermione was hurriedly putting her bag together. Lavender and Parvati were sitting at their dressing tables applying large amounts of sparkly goop to their faces. Fiona was searching everywhere for her Potions book, but couldn't find it anywhere.

"It's in your trunk!" Hermione finally screamed at her.

"Oh, thanks."

"Let's go we're late!" Hermione complained.

"Hermione, breakfast hasn't even begun to be served yet! How could we be late?" Fiona asked, practically running down the stairs to catch up with Hermione.

"By the time we get to the Great Hall, we'll definitely be late," Hermione answered her, holding open the portrait.

"By what- two minutes? Thanks," Fiona said as the portrait swung shut behind her. Keeping up with Hermione was a lot of work and Fiona felt as if she had run a marathon by the time they reached the Great Hall.

"So, how did we get here?" Hermione tested her as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"How was I supposed to remember where I was going when I was trying to keep up with you!" Hermione gave her a disapproving look.

"Morning," Seamus mumbled as he sat down at the table.

"Morning," the girls chorused back.

Harry and Ron sat down shortly. Hermione rolled her eyes when she saw Ron- it looked like he just tumbled out of bed. Hermione, however, was neatly dressed and had even applied some make-up; not that the two dunderhead boys she had as friends would notice.

"Did you hear Harry's Quidditch Captain?" Ron asked, piling his plate with food.

"Congratulations! I knew they would lift that ban!" Hermione said.

"Now we just need to find some new teammates! Half our team left last year," Harry said, looking at his porridge. "You don't happen to play- do you?" He asked Fiona desperately.

"Um, I used to play a little bit. I haven't got a broom, though. I mean I used to, but I'm really sure what happened to it."

"That's not a big deal, tryouts aren't for a while anyways. What position did you play?" Harry asked, secretly hoping it was something they needed.

"Usually beater- it was my favorite."

"We've already got beaters," Ron said between gulps of pumpkin juice.

"Yes, but have you actually watched them?" Ginny asked as she sat down. "We could use some new ones- preferably ones that aren't afraid of bludgers. I'm trying out for Chaser myself."

"Good, because we don't have any," Harry said. "Fiona, talk to Madam Hooch and come to tryouts. If you don't make beater- which you shouldn't have a problem- then you can be a chaser with Ginny."

"Ok," Fiona said, looking at her eggs and bacon, remembering the dishes she was used to from back at her orphanage. Talking about Quidditch reminded her of Diso and Italy and she frowned into her food.

"Oh look! Schedules!" Hermione said.

"Oh, blimey! Double potions first thing today!" Ron said.

"That's bad?" Fiona asked.

"Snape teaches potions," Harry said.

"He hates Gryffindors," Seamus added.

"He used to hate Harry a lot, now he just ignores him," Ron put in.

"It's not a bad deal," Harry replied honestly. He'd rather Snape ignored him.

"I like potions," Fiona said.

"Trust us, after one class with Snape- you'll hate it," Ron advised.

"Transfigurations after that," Harry said. Fiona groaned. "And double Defense Against the Dark Arts after lunch. That should be interesting. Anyone heard who the new teacher is?"

"Not a clue," Dean said.

"Me either," Ron said.

"Well, it can't be Umbridge again and it's surely not Professor Lupin," Hermione said. "But there wasn't a new teacher at the table last night. Professor Grubbly-Plank was back though."

"What's Hagrid doing then- wasn't he here when we got off the train?" Ron asked. Harry and Hermione gave him knowing looks- of course he would be doing something with the Order and hopefully it had nothing to do with his brother Grawp.

"Fiona, we'd better get going or else we'll be late for Potions!"

"Yes, Hermione," Fiona said, even though Potions didn't start for a half hour and Fiona doubted it would take that long to get to wherever the potions class was.

"Potions classes are in the dungeons," Hermione informed her.

"Enchanting," was the reply.

Given what she had heard that morning, plus everything Fred and George had said about Potions, Fiona was less than excited to go to class. i _'But I like Potions and I'm good at it- I'll be fine'_ /i she told herself over and over. She looked around. The dungeons were pretty spooky. Of course, she and Hermione had to be the first to class. Hermione was already holding her Potions book. Fiona just followed her into the classroom and didn't even bother to protest when Hermione sat in the very front, very center of the room.

"So, how did we get here?" Hermione tested her again. Fiona told her the way they had come. She only messed up twice. "Not bad." Hermione told her, as she flipped through the book.

"Hermione, why are you already on Chapter 17? We haven't started class yet!"

"It's always good to be prepared," Hermione shrugged before returning to her reading. It took a long time for the rest of the class to arrive. When there were only five minutes left until class began half the seats were still empty. Harry and Ron came running through the door almost as class was beginning and took seats all the way in the back corner. Draco was sitting in the front next to Pansy Parkinson. He must have been trying to tell a joke because Pansy was laughing hysterically. Harry was happy to note that everyone else around Draco looked bored.

"Quills out, books away," Snape bellowed as he entered the room, slamming the door behind him. "Take out your summer assignments. Weasley, you may begin collecting them. You'd better hope none of you have gotten stupider over the summer and I must say this class is extremely demanding and requires hard work that is to be done to perfection! There is no doubt in my mind that many of you do not belong in this class. Long gone are the days when you sit about idly looking at cauldrons and getting by simply because you handed in an assignment." He appeared to be looking right at Harry. His gaze shifted for a second and lingered on Fiona.

"Today you will create a i _simple_ /i healing potion," Snape said, making it sound as if it were incredibly easy, knowing perfectly well how difficult it would be for the class. "However, that doesn't mean that it does not require precision and all of your attention! The instructions are on the board, along with the ingredients. I suggest you copy them down for further use as this particular potion is not in your books. Now, before we begin- the seating arrangement in here is not at all acceptable," He paused. Fiona was hardly paying attention to him at all. Instead, she was looking at Malfoy. Draco Malfoy was, in fact, looking back at Fiona with an odd expression on his face.

i _'He can't possibly be SMILING at me- can he?'_ /i she thought to herself.

"Pay attention!" Snape snapped in her direction. Fiona jumped and faced forward, mumbling an apology. "That's five points from Gryffindor. And these seats will be permanent, so get used to them." Then he began pairing them off. Hermione was stuck in a back corner with Goyle as a partner. She sat next to him secretly wondering how he even got into the class. Ron and Harry were sitting on opposite sides of the room from each other and Fiona was paired with Draco. She sighed, her first day was starting out horrible.

"Don't worry, Snape is always taking points off us," Harry said to her as he walked to his new seat.

"Anything to share with the class, Potter? I didn't think so, now get to work!" Snape snarled. Fiona immediately began copying down the notes Snape had written on the board.

"I'm not going to bother writing _those_ down. You will let me borrow your notes right," Draco said dropping his voice, " i _mudblood_ /i lover? After all, we i _are_ /i partners." Draco sneered at her. Fiona glared at him but put her paper in the center of the table anyway. Then she took out her supplies and took a deep breath. She lined up everything she needed and began preparing all of her ingredients. She looked over, Draco might have been a nuisance to have as a partner but at least he was neat.

Ron was off in a far corner of the room and appeared to be having a lot of trouble. Harry looked bored as Snape yelled at him for improperly setting up his cauldron. Hermione was hunched over her parchment, double and triple checking her ingredients.

"No problems over here I assume, Draco?" Snape asked. "I know you'll help Miss Clarec if she needs it." Snape said, trying to hide how impressed he was by Fiona's work so far. It was obviously superior to Draco's.

"Of course, Professor." Fiona rolled her eyes at him. What a sleazy git.

At the end of class, Fiona bottled up her potion and after marking her bottle, walked it up to the front of the class. She placed her potion on Snape's desk next to Hermione's before she went back to clean her supplies. When she finished, she looked around the room. Many of the students had already left. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were nowhere in sight. She quickly walked out the door, hoping to catch up with them. The dungeon corridor was empty.

"Where's your next class," a bored Draco said, leaning against the wall. Fiona looked at him but kept walking.

"I know you don't know where you're going. You might as well answer, I'm the only one here who can help you- unless you're waiting for foolish Peeves of course." Fiona stopped. She knew he was right and she didn't want to find out what McGonagall would say if she walked in late.

"Transfigurations," she mumbled.

"Now was that so hard?" Draco asked sarcastically. They continued in silence all the way to Transfigurations. "It's that door over there." Suddenly, Fiona's bag split open, spilling its contents everywhere. She could have sworn she heard Draco mutter something and now he was smirking at her. She turned to yell at him but he was already gone.

"Where've you been?" Ron asked when Fiona finally walked into class.

"Oh, just walking to class with i _Malfoy_ /i and you?"

"Er-" Ron began.

"He didn't do anything to you did he?" Harry asked.

"Of course not," Fiona answered, opening her Transfigurations book. She was horrible at Transfigurations and she groaned as everyone quieted for Professor McGonagall to start speaking.

The class went pretty smoothly, despite Fiona frantically taking notes every time McGonagall uttered a word. Ron sat back to watch her- she was writing twice as fast as Hermione. He didn't think it was possible.

The class split into groups to practice turning goblets into various animals. Ron and Fiona were put together while Harry was sitting with Hermione. The first thing they had to do was turn their goblets into parakeets.

"Um, I don't know what I did, but mine is definitely not chirping- it kinda sounds like a dying cat or something," Ron said.

"Don't worry, mine's still completely metal and can't move at all," Fiona said, frowning at her bird. It looked more like a statue than a live animal.

"Wanna switch and see if they come out better?"

"Absolutely not, Mr. Weasley. Now Fiona, try harder!" Professor McGonagall advised as she stood next to their table, waiting for them to finish the first transfiguration. Hermione was two desks over and was calling to the Professor to show her the parakeet she transfigured. It was currently sitting on her finger and chirping happily. Fiona scowled at Hermione's perfect bird and turned back to her own metal disaster. Ron's elbow accidentally hit it and it clamored to the floor. She picked it up and put it back on the table. There was a large dent in its head. Professor McGonagall looked at her expectantly.

The rest of class consisted of McGonagall watching everything Fiona did and showing her all of her mistakes. Neville looked relieved until his parakeet started flitting about the room. Since McGonagall was with Fiona, Hermione had to help him get it back. Fiona was ready to smash her goblet into the wall by the time class ended.

"I'm horrible at Transfigurations!" She wailed as they ate lunch.

"Yea, but look at how you are in Potions. Like you would i _ever_ /i need Malfoy's help," Hermione said. "Don't worry about transfigurations, I'll help you with that."

"It's not so bad- I have something for Malfoy," Fiona said. Harry looked at her. "Just watch."

After she had finished her lunch, Fiona walked up to Draco with a huge smile on her face.

She leaned very close to him and whispered in his ear, "Thanks for walking me to class today, Draco. It was very nice of you." Then she took her goblet of pumpkin juice and poured it over his head. She ran out of the Great Hall before he even realized what happened. The whole Gryffindor table erupted in laughter.

Everyone arrived to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class early. The door was locked and Hermione's _Alohamora _spell didn't work, so everyone waited outside. They were all whispering to each other, trying to figure out who the new teacher was when suddenly, the door opened itself.

"Ouch!" The door had hit Neville square in the nose.

"Sorry about that," a feminine voice said from inside the room. "You may come in now. "As they entered, everyone gasped and stared at the classroom. There were artifacts from different parts of the world all over. Hermione let out a gasp as she looked around the room and secretly wished she could be locked in there for hours. There were tapestries, rugs, and drapes in various colors and from various places hung up everywhere. One whole corner of the room was devoted to Egypt and Hermione's eyes lingered on the various gold hieroglyphics that adorned the wall.

"Cool," Lavender said, taking a seat in the front of the classroom. Everyone followed her lead and began taking seats. Neville was absentmindedly rubbing his nose as he let his eyes wander around the room.

"Good afternoon, class. I hope you like all of my artifacts and memorabilia that I have collected- and yes, all of them are real so please be careful with them." Everyone's heads immediately turned to the front of the room. Standing in front of them was a woman who was wearing a bright turquoise robe with gold around the edges, reminding most of the students of a Sari. Her long, brown hair was swept back in a ponytail and she had long, dangling gold earrings. Everything about her looked interesting. Harry couldn't help noticing that she reminded him of a pixie as she was rather small and had a little pointy nose that turned up at the end. Her big, brown eyes looked around the class at all of the expectant students. She frowned when she got to Neville.

"I'm awfully sorry about that, I didn't think anyone was standing near the door," she started saying. "Would you like to go to the infirmary?"

"No, that's alright. I'm fine," Neville muttered, and immediately stopped rubbing his nose.

"Well, I am truly sorry. Anyway, my name is Professor Dimisa Safia. I was born in London, but have grown up and lived in various parts of the globe. I speak several languages and enjoy studying different wizarding cultures around the world. Now, this is the sixth level N.E.W.T. preparatory class, correct?" She asked as she opened a notebook on her desk. "Sorry for being so late but I had some i _personal_ /i business to attend to. My schedule is all mixed up now and most of my classes appear to be changed around. I started talking about werewolves this morning only to discover that I was talking to first years! It was quite embarrassing," She said, winking at Ron. His face turned an interesting shade of crimson all the way up to his ears and he ducked behind his book.

"This is the sixth year N.E.W.T. class," Hermione told her matter-of-factly.

"Well, thank you. Let me begin by taking attendance." She quickly took attendance and Harry was glad to note that she hardly paused when she read his name. Ron had to duck behind his book again as she called his name. Harry answered for him as the large book in front of him muffled Ron's reply.

"You'll have to speak up if you want me to be able to hear you," she responded. "Now, I have been told that you are a little behind on your Defenses due to an irregular teaching schedule last year- but no worries, soon you will be caught up. The first unit we will discuss is part- human beings. Can anyone think of an example?" Hermione raised her hand expectantly. "Please, say your name and house first so I may get to know you better."

"Hermione Granger, Gryffindor. The answer to your question is: werewolves, vampires, hags-"

"Thank you very much, Hermione," Professor Safia said, cutting her off. Hermione frowned. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, the reason I stopped you from continuing is because you mentioned vampires. Today we will begin discussing vampires and how to protect yourselves against them. It's important to remember that we can't walk around expecting to be attacked every five seconds, so some of the things you learn in here- although useful- aren't very practical unless you know you are looking for one particular species- such as a vampire. But please, close your books, it's very distracting. Simply sit and listen. You may take notes if you feel it's necessary," she said, looking at the shocked look on Hermione's face. Everyone sat looking at her expectantly. They weren't sure whether a lecture on the first day was a good thing- or an incredibly horrible one. It turned out to not be that bad. Harry actually enjoyed himself.

Besides teaching the normal aspects on vampires, like all the stuff written in their exceptionally large books, Professor Safia told anecdotes and stories throughout her lecture. It sort of reminded Harry of Professor Lockhart, except Professor Safia didn't take credit for any of her stories- instead she told stories about different people she had met and talked to. When the class was over, no one moved. They were waiting for her to continue speaking.

"Well, that is all, really. Next class we will begin discussing werewolves. You may leave, but if you please- I need to speak to a Harry Potter after class." Harry sighed; of course he had to stay after class. After everyone left, he trudged to the front of the room.

"Yes, professor?" he asked expectantly.

"Harry, how are you?" she paused. "Did you know that I am skilled in Legilimens and Occlumency? Professor Dumbledore has informed me that I will begin taking over your Occlumency lessons shortly. You will have one lesson with me per week and one lesson with Professor Dumbledore per month. Also, a certain Professor Skont has asked me to talk to you about DA meetings. That is correct- DA meetings?" She waited for Harry to nod before she continued. "Alright well, your DA has changed. Although it will be a class, it will be very hard for Professor Skont to make it to your meetings, as she is a very busy person. Instead, she will instruct only you once every two weeks. In this time she will teach you various different activities that you are to master and pass on to the rest of your group. She said this is somewhat normal. Does that sound all right? You should be expecting an owl from her shortly."

"Er, yes it's fine- just, do you know Professor Skont?" Harry asked warily.

"Of course I do, Harry. She and I are good friends. She's a very talented witch. Now, that is all. You'd better hurry along; I heard Professor Snape gave you an excessive amount of homework to do. I was going to give some, too but it is the first day so I decided against it. Have a nice night, Harry. We'll finish with this occlumency later."

"Good bye, Professor," Harry said before he walked out the door. Fiona was waiting outside for him.

"Sorry, I wasn't snooping on you- but I couldn't catch up to Hermione and Ron and didn't really feel like wandering around until I eventually found the common room."

"Not a big deal," Harry said. "I'll show you how to get back. Did anyone tell you about the DA?"

"Um, Ginny mentioned it briefly. It's disbanded though, right?"

"Not really, it's starting up again. Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to join. New recruits are always welcome and well, I think you'll do good."

"Sure, thanks Harry. When is it meeting?"

"Not sure, yet. Have to find a place to meet first. Quaffle," Harry said to the portrait.

Harry spotted Ron and Hermione sitting on the far end of the common room playing a game of wizard's chess. From the smug look on Ron's face, Harry deduced that he was winning.

"Second game in a row," Ron said to her. "You might as well give up, Hermione." Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"You know, I was thinking the same thing in Potions class today," Hermione snapped at him. "Oh, hi Harry. Hi Fiona. You know Fiona, there's a letter for you upstairs on your bed."

"Oh, thanks Hermione," Fiona said.

"So," Ron called out to Fiona, "who calls you Fia?" Hermione looked down at the chessboard, pretending to be very interested in the knight that was riding around the table.

"No- no one important," Fiona said, blushing before running up to the dormitories.

"Ron, that was really mean!" Hermione said.

"I was just curious-"

"Nosy, you mean. I told you not to say anything!"

"All right, all right," Harry said, looking around. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "We have to set up some DA meetings. I was wondering, do you think we could still use the coins?"

"Oh, Harry I don't know. What if the coins got lost, or confiscated," Hermione said.

"So, what if we make new ones?" Harry asked.

"You said it wasn't that hard, Hermione," Ron reminded her.

"Well, when's the first meeting?"

"Not sure, I have to wait for Professor Skont," Harry said, grumbling. "She's going to instruct me of different things to teach everyone. We still have to work on Patronuses, mind you."

"Don't I know it," Ron muttered.

"Oh, and I've asked Fiona to join. Do you think that's all right?" Harry asked.

"Of course. Besides, from how well she did in Potions today we'll definitely need her help," Ron said.

"Yes, but she's almost as bad as Neville in Transfigurations," Hermione reminded him.

"Neville's not so bad, just nervous. Look at how he does at DA meetings," Harry said. "Speaking of which, where should we have them? We obviously can't use the Room of Requirement anymore, now that everyone knows about it."

"Not everyone knows about it," Ron said.

"Draco does," Harry reminded him.

"That's true, but why don't you just ask Professor Skont? Who is she anyway?" Hermione asked.

"No clue and since she's counting on me to teach, she'll probably be counting on me to find a room, too," Harry said.

"Too bad we can't have it in here," Ron said glumly.

"Maybe not in here," Hermione said, perking up. "But, Ron, what about the i _prefect_ /i common room? Hardly anyone goes in there and if we said we were using it-"

"But Hermione it's for i _prefects_ /i ," Ron reminded her.

"Well, I highly doubt it's the only one," Hermione said to him.

"What do you mean not the i _only_ /i one?" Harry asked.

"Well, there's one for boys and one for girls, right? Well, they have to have old ones. They probably even have an old Gryffindor common room! That would be perfect!" Hermione said.

"Hermione, they can't possibly-"

"Yes they can. Hogwart's has gotten a lot bigger than it used to be- think of how many more students go here now than before!" Hermione said. That was true- there were more first years than Harry ever remembered.

"But Hermione, how would we i _find_ /i these rooms?" Ron asked.

"The Marauder's Map!" Harry exclaimed.

"Um, no Harry. Actually, that wouldn't work," Hermione said.

"What, Hermione that's ridiculous! There's no way it can't work-" Ron interrupted.

"Think about it! Seriously, the Marauder's Map isn't that old- they used the same common rooms and dormitories that we use! We need something even older-"

"What about Dobby?" Harry asked. "House elves know everything about Hogwart's."

"And how are you going to ask him?" Ron asked.

"Ron, Harry's idea isn't so bad- Dobby would know or he'd find out from the other house elves. This is all assuming that Professor Skont doesn't have a room, but still. Harry, why don't you visit Dobby tomorrow? You can go before breakfast-"

"Sorry, Harry but I'm not waking up that early."

"It's alright, Ron. I'll go myself."

"Now Harry, about this Professor Skont," Hermione began. i _'Why does her name sound so familiar?'_ /i She thought to herself.

Well, another chapter is posted! ï I hope you liked it and please, review!


	8. Chapter Eight: Common Rooms

11

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, obviously.........

Special thanks to my betas, Dreamermarie and icycoolhermione! And more special thanks to Gina Bina, bookster623, White-witch91, sentinel-witch, petee-poo, and Serb4c. Thanks for taking the time to review, it is much appreciated!

Chapter Eight: Common Rooms

Harry woke up early for the second morning in a row. He grumbled as he got out of bed. i _'I don't see Ron or Hermione getting up this early!'_ /i he thought to himself. i _'If it's for the DA, why don't they come along too?'_ /i 

Harry got ready as quickly as possible and slipped out the portrait hole before most of the Gryffindors were even awake. He hurried down the corridors, not even thinking of where he was going until he reached a picture with a bowl of fruit. He tickled the pear and waited for the handle to appear before he opened the door and walked into the kitchens. He had never been to the kitchens while the house elves were actually preparing a meal. There were platters of food on almost every available table or counter just waiting to be sent to the Great Hall. Looking at the food made Harry very hungry.

"Harry Potter! Is you coming to visit me already?" Dobby seemed to have come from nowhere. He had a silly grin on his face.

"Good morning, Dobby."

"Is you hungry, Harry Potter?"

"Um, no- not now. Listen, Dobby, I have a favour to ask of you."

"Harry Potter would- would come to i _Dobby_ /i for help?" Dobby stared at him wide-eyed. "Please, please sit down Harry Potter!" He pulled Harry towards a comfortable looking chair near a fireplace. Over in the corner a blanket seemed to be half covering another house elf that lay apparently unconscious on the floor. A puddle of butterbeer escaped from underneath the cloth.

"Dobby is that-"

"Yes, Winky is still not adjustings, sir. Dobby is not understanding whys. But, what does the great Harry Potter need me to do?" Dobby asked excitedly, trying to get Harry's focus away from Winky.

"Er- well. Hermione had this idea and well, we were wondering if there was ever any other rooms in Hogwart's that were once used for common rooms."

"Of course! Most is used for house elf rooms-"

"Dobby, are any empty?"

"Of course they are! Many large, large rooms with nothing in them. I's never seen anything likes it. And we cleans them every day we do!"

"Dobby could we i _use_ /i one of these rooms?" Harry asked.

"Of course! Dobby will set one up just for you, Harry Potter, because you is a great friend of Dobby's. Is there anything you be needing in this room?"

"Er- just a table or two and some large pillows? Oh- and a fireplace! Is that ok?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry Potter."

"Thanks, Dobby. You helped me so much! I have to get to breakfast now," Harry said, eyeing the empty tables and counters that had just been covered with platters of breakfast foods. "But I'll be back today after lunch. Can you show me where the room is then?"

"You is too kind you is, Harry Potter. Thinking to even thank me! It will be done by lunch! Good-bye, Harry Potter. Thanks you for visiting Dobby!"

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Hermione looked at him.

"He'll show me after lunch," Harry said, smiling.

"Owl post!" Ginny called from down the table. Sure enough, hundreds of owls began flying into the Great Hall. Hermione's newspaper came. Harry was surprised when Hedwig sat on his shoulder, holding a letter in her beak.

"Thanks, Hedwig!" He said to her. She hooted in return and Harry gave her a piece of bacon. Harry carefully unfolded the letter.

i 'Harry, Meet me in the Defense Against the Dark Arts room next Tuesday at eight o'clock! Owl me back to let me know that you will be there. Professor Skont.' /i 

Harry quickly scribbled a reply on the other side of the paper and gave it back to Hedwig. She hooted at him before flying away.

"Well, what'd it say?" Ron asked.

"Oh, meeting with Professor Skont next Tuesday at eight is all. Alright, time to get ready for Charms."

"Think Professor Flitwick will go easy on us? I still haven't finished that Potions essay that's due tomorrow. Two parchments on our first day back- is he mad?"

"You know Ron, if you had started it yesterday like I did- you wouldn't have much left to do," Hermione said. "And Professor Flitwick i _should_ /i give us more work, it i _is_ /i a N.E.W.T. class you know." Ron looked at her like she had three heads. Harry tried to hide the smile that was on his face. It melted instantly when he saw Malfoy talking to Fiona. Ron and Hermione saw them at the exact same time.

"Malfoy, what do you think you are doing?" Harry asked him.

"Shut it, Potter. I'm allowed to talk to my Potions partner, aren't I?"

"If you're just talking, then why is she pushed back against the wall?"

"You better watch what you are insinuating, Potter. I'm still Prefect and I can still take points."

"So can we, Malfoy. Come on, Fiona, let's go," Hermione said, pulling Fiona away from Draco.

"Not so fast, I wasn't finished yet!"

"Is there a problem here, Draco?" Professor Snape asked him.

"Potter and his new friend were just starting trouble, as usual Professor, and I was trying to stop him but that horrible Hermione Granger tried to threaten me-"

"Enough, Draco. I will take care of this. Go sit down and finish your breakfast," Snape said. Draco smiled smugly at Harry before going to sit in his seat. The whole Slytherin table was watching them.

"Potter, you would think by now you would have learned to stay away from Draco. And you, Miss Clarec, should i _especially_ /i stay away from him. Five points will be taken from each of you for your foolishness." Then he walked away. The four Gryffindors walked through the Great Hall doors.

"Now really, how is Fiona supposed to stay away from Malfoy when he makes Malfoy her partner? That's not fair! Five points from i _all_ /i of us?" Hermione said exasperatedly. "No offense, Harry but you i _did_ /i confront him and Fiona, why were you even talking to him in the first place?"

" i _I_ /i wasn't talking to i _him_ /i , i _he_ /i was talking to i _me_ /i ! A bit rudely, too might I add."

"Ok, ok," Ron, said. "Hermione, it wasn't anyone's fault- Malfoy's just a huge git, now let's get to class before Gryffindor has negative points. Oh, I can't wait to catch Crabbe or Goyle alone."

"Ron!" Hermione yelled at him.

"What?" he answered as innocently as possible.

The first week went by quickly and Harry spent a lot of his time adjusting to the new schedule. He hadn't thought it possible, but now that the first week was over, it seemed as if the teachers were giving even more homework. Snape seemed almost incapable of going one class without giving at least two rolls of parchment for homework. Hermione was constantly on their case to get more work done.

"Harry," Hermione said, from atop her Potions book. Harry looked at her warily. "Didn't you have a meeting to go to tonight? It's almost eight and I thought-"

"I gotta go!" Harry said, slamming his books shut and running out of the common room. "See you later."

"I don't understand the point of this Divinations," Ginny said. "Anytime I look into a crystal ball all I see is one ugly witch- and I'm not talking about myself, either. And these cards- they make no sense." Ron laughed, Professor Trelawney was a bit odd looking. "Oops, I think I predicted that I was going to almost drown more than once this week. Maybe I'll make myself horribly burned instead."

"Sorry- sorry I'm late," Harry said, bursting into the room.

"It's ok, I just got here myself. Oops, now who puts a plant there?" Professor Skont asked as she knocked a potted plant over. She was smaller than Harry and probably in her mid-thirties. She had short blonde hair and was wearing plain black robes. She flicked her wrist and it set itself sort of upright again. Harry stifled a laugh.

"Well, I'm Professor Amy Skont. You can call me Amy in here but in front of anyone else, Professor Skont will have to do. I must say, it was pretty witty of you to come up with the idea for Dumbledore's Army. How did you come by it?"

"You see, er- Amy. Last year our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was a bit- um-"

"Unfit to teach?"

"Well- she refused to let us to practice any of the spells we were learning in class, so my friend Hermione Granger came up with the idea for the DA and asked me to be the teacher. That's how it started, but Umbridge found out about it and-"

"Yes, she is a detestable woman, isn't she? Never liked her myself." Harry couldn't help but smile. Amy looked at him. "Did you think just because she was a teacher that I would agree with her? That's ridiculous! But that is not important right now. Why don't you begin by telling me the things that the DA has already learned."

"Er- well, simple curses really. Jelly legs, simple Stunning, a shielding charm, and we started Patronuses-"

"Patronuses! Really, and how is everyone doing?" Amy suddenly seemed really interested.

"Well, it's mixed really. I can do one, of course, and Hermione Granger can. A couple others can, too and everyone else is real close if they haven't gotten it already," Harry answered her.

"Outstanding! Now, for the first several meetings you will simply go over these old spells- especially i _Expecto Patronum_ /i - and I will teach you another shielding charm which is a bit more powerful. Also, what you will want to do is practice agility. No, not wand agility," Amy said to him, noticing Harry's perplexed look. "Physical agility; it will help you dodge curses and hexes. What you need to do is put everyone in groups of two or three. Have the other one or two people shoot simple curses at one member of the group so that they can dodge the curse. You'll need to start off slowly at first and then eventually you can get faster and faster. Each person should do this for at least ten minutes a meeting. It's very important. Now about that shielding charm-"

"So I have to stand there while you all throw hexes at me? This is practice? Has Dumbledore gone nutters?" Ron asked, the next morning at breakfast.

"Calm down, Ron, it's actually makes sense if you think about it. Being able to dodge curses will help a lot. Look what happened last year," Hermione said, remembering her experience with getting cursed.

"Sounds a little like Auror training to me," Ron thought aloud.

"Hermione, did you start making the coins yet? We're supposed to meet at least once a week," Harry said.

"Oh, no I didn't. Sorry, Harry. I'll start them tonight, I promise."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, what's wrong with Ginny- she just left," Harry said, looking at Ginny's empty spot down the table. Dean Thomas was sitting all the way at the end of the table, alone.

"Who knows, probably a fight with her i _boyfriend_ /i ," Ron said, disgustedly. Hermione rolled her eyes before getting up and following Ginny.

"Hungry for lunch?" Hermione snickered at Ron as they all sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"No, not really. I think I'm just going to go back to the common room, actually. See you in Potions," Ron said as he gathered his things and left.

"Ron was late to Creatures class today," Harry said to Fiona. "Because he got sick after breakfast and had to go to the Infirmary."

"Fiona," Professor McGonagall said, walking towards the table. "I must take you to Professor Dumbledore's office immediately."

"Yes, Professor," Fiona said, picking up her things and leaving behind Professor McGonagall.

"Wonder what Dumbledore wants with her," Hermione said.

"I wouldn't know," Harry answered testily as he watched Fiona leave. i _'Dumbledore hasn't even asked to see me yet!'_ /i 

"How was your meeting with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked Fiona that night. Hermione was watching Ron and Lavender play chess out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help but notice how often they were together.

"Oh- it was ok," Fiona answered absentmindedly as she finished her translation for Ancient Runes. "I missed Potions, though. Snape is making me do the lesson during lunch tomorrow." She scowled.

"We made a potion today to heal magical injuries or something," Harry said over a stack of books. Both Harry and Ron were already putting off their homework and Harry glared menacingly at the large stack of books in front of him.

"As long as Draco isn't there, I don't care what I'm making," Fiona sighed as she closed her Runes book. "I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait, I'll come with you," Hermione said. "Night Harry."

"Night Hermione, night Fiona," Harry said. "Maybe I'll go to bed too."

"Harry, you still have to finish the Potions assignment that's due tomorrow and don't forget about Transfigurations. Professor McGonagall said we're starting something entirely new and extremely hard soon." Harry frowned at Hermione. She was right, of course.

The next day, Hermione walked Fiona to the dungeons and then headed off to the common room to find Ginny, who was refusing to eat any of her meals in the Great Hall.

Fiona walked unsteadily into the classroom. Draco was sitting in his seat. She sighed. What was he doing there?

"Instructions are on the board, Clarec, so get started." Fiona ignored him. "Where are you going? That's not your seat." Fiona grumbled but picked up her bag anyway and sat down in her usual seat. She copied down the instructions Snape had left on the board and pulled out the ingredients she would need. She glanced over at Draco. He was haphazardly cutting stalks of one of the magical plants they would need for the potion.

"You're doing that all wrong, you know."

"Turning into your mudblood friend, are you? Think you know everything, eh?" Draco taunted her. Fiona looked at him. She knew that if Draco's potion came out much worse than hers Snape would somehow make it her fault, so she reached across Draco and picked up his stalks. He grabbed her wrist.

"I'm the favourite in here, you'd best remember that." He dropped her wrist on the table. She winced, but took the stalks and began to cut them anyway. Draco's fingers left red marks on her arm that appeared to be bruising.

"Here," she said, shoving the neatly cut stalks in his face. Draco and Fiona worked separately in silence for the rest of the period. Their potions were gently simmering in the cauldrons when Draco turned to her.

"You know, for a mud-blood lover you're not so bad and you did help me with my potion; I'll repay you the favour. Since you weren't here last year, I'll help you get acquainted. i _IMPERIO_! /i " Fiona was caught off guard. Draco smirked at her, relishing in the new power that he possessed. At first, Draco watched as he made Fiona finish his potion and bottle it for him. She effortlessly cleaned his cauldron and put away his supplies, as he had commanded her to. Then, he thought of something else to make her try and a wicked smile came across his face. Fiona crossed the classroom and walked right up to Draco and suddenly, she was kissing him.

Luckily, Draco still wasn't very skilled with Unforgivable Curses and he couldn't feel Fiona begin to fight the curse.

" i _NO_! /i " she screamed, after she finally succeeded in pushing him away. "If you are going to be using Unforgivable curses, Malfoy, you should practice because yours are rather weak!"

"It's just practice, don't think you're anything special, really. And I'd watch myself if I were you." Fiona was about to tell him she never really thought otherwise, but didn't get the chance because just then, Malfoy walked over to her cauldron and tipped it over.

As the potion spilt across the floor, Fiona let out a quick gasp. What was she going to do? She looked over and saw that all of Draco's things were neatly put away and he was waiting up by Snape's desk to hand in his potion. Of course, Snape chose that moment to come into the room.

"Stupid girl. How careless of you," he snarled at her. "You're lucky that was a healing potion- think of the damage you could have done! Twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor and you will have a detention with me next Thursday. Be here at eight o'clock, now clean up this mess!" He turned to Draco. "Well done, Draco. Twenty points for Slytherin. You are dismissed." Then he turned and walked out the door.

Fiona didn't feel like going to her next class, she just walked back to the Gryffindor common room and went directly to her dormitory. She didn't even bother getting changed; she simply lay on her bed and drew the curtains closed around her before falling asleep. Her amulet glowed gold as she slept so that it looked like a tiny light was beneath her robes.

"What happened to Fiona?" Ron asked that night as he stared at the stack of books before him. Quidditch season hadn't even started yet and already he was behind on homework. Harry, after getting some of his done the night before, had a somewhat smaller pile in front of him. Hermione had spread all of her books out before her, as usual.

"I walked her to the dungeons before lunch," Hermione said.

"Yes, but no one's seen her since then," Harry said. "Did you check your dorm? She might be sleeping or something."

"Look, there she is," Ron said, pointing to the stairs that led to the dormitory. "Hey, Fiona! Over here!" He waved in her direction. She walked over and sat next to Harry at the table.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked.

"I was really tired," Fiona said.

"Did something happen to you?" Hermione asked. They all looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"Fiona, you have to learn to trust us," Harry said, looking at her.

"We're your friends," Hermione added.

"Oh, all right- but you can't laugh," Fiona said as she started her story. Fiona knew they wouldn't like what she told them but she was unsure how they would react. Their eyes seemed to pop out of their heads.

"He i _what_ /i ?" Ron shouted.

"For how long?" Harry asked.

"You have to tell Dumbledore- that's an unforgivable curse!" Hermione chimed in.

"It wasn't very strong and I was able to break free really soon."

"Being able to i _do_ /i an unforgivable curse is enough- you have to be really filled with hatred and evil," Harry said, remembering when he tried one of the curses on Bellatrix Lestrange.

"You have to tell Dumbledore immediately," Hermione said again.

"No!" Fiona said, looking distraught.

"I agree with Fiona, we can't tell him- not yet," Harry said. "It's too risky, if Malfoy found out he'd just hassle her even more. I think we should wait for a little. Fiona, you can't go anywhere alone anymore. Good thing we have a DA meeting coming up, you really need to learn to protect yourself."

"Meeting? When?" Ron asked.

"Tomorrow at seven-thirty," Harry said. "Dobby set up the room for us and it looks really good, I think he stole some stuff from the Room of Requirement. Everyone should be coming, too. Fred and George might even show up." Hermione looked at Fiona to see her reaction. Sure enough, Fiona suddenly became very excited.

"Really?" she asked. Ron scowled at her. He really hated it when girls got all weird like that.

Well, another chapter is posted! ï I hope you liked it and please take the two seconds to review. You can't possibly understand how much you will change my day and who knows...if you have a story, I just might stop by to say hello....


	9. Chapter Nine: The DA Restored

Well! Thanks to all my really nice readers! Especially to: Mary Ichijouji, lyss33, dramagirl, harryptaxd204, Gina Bina, and Silver Streak. It was so nice of you to take time out and review! You all made my day!  
  
Special thanks to my betas: icycoolHermione, dreamermarie, and to Hayzel- my Mary Sue extraordinaire!   
  
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Harry, sadly I do not. Only Fiona....  
  
centerChapter Nine: The DA Restored/center  
  
At exactly seven thirty, the members of the DA found themselves gathered in the Room of Requirement. It was surprisingly bare.  
  
"Where's all our stuff?" Zacharias Smith asked rudely. Fred and George, who had snuck into the castle to attend the DA meeting, glared at him.  
  
"Listen!" Harry shouted, trying to get everyone to pay attention. "This is our meeting spot for tonight only. I have found a new room for us to have our meetings in- one that no one else knows about. The only way to get to our new room is through house elf passageways. iWill you pay attention/i?" He yelled at Zacharias who was whispering furiously to Ginny. She looked like she was about to hex him. Zacharias immediately stopped talking.  
  
"Thank you. This is really important because the room is really hard to find. I will go first because I know where the room is. If you get lost, don't panic, simply think of where you want to go and as long as you keep walking, you will eventually get there."  
  
"What do you mean, eventually?" Ernie Macmillan asked, looking nervous for a moment.  
  
"Anyway," Harry said, ignoring him. "The easiest way to enter a house elf corridor is to tap the third brick from the left on the very top of the fireplaces in your dormitories. Tonight, we will, of course, be using the one from in here. Now, follow closely."  
  
Harry walked to the opposite side of the room and opened a door that no one else had even bothered to notice.   
  
"I must warn you, these are a bit small. Crawling seems to work best," Harry said, right before he crawled into the corridor. The Patil twins and Lavender exchanged looks of equal horror and looked down at their clean clothes.   
  
Hermione dropped to her hands and knees and followed Harry. Slowly, all the other members dropped to their hands and knees and followed Hermione. It didn't take very long to reach the room that Harry had found.  
  
"Welcome to the old Hufflepuff common room," Harry said, after they all entered the room.   
  
The room reminded them all a lot of the Room of Requirement and Harry secretly wondered whether Dobby had stolen things from it. One wall contained nothing but bookcases. Strewn about the room were pillows and cushions in various shapes and sizes. There were even a couple of couches. Harry counted three fireplaces.   
  
"This is iperfect/i," Hermione sighed. "And look- our attendance sheet is on the wall with today's date on it. Everyone's names are already checked off!"   
  
"Ok everyone, if you could sit on a cushion somewhere I'll explain what's going on," Harry shouted at everyone. Neville and Ginny were playing with a drawer of sneakoscopes. Fred and George walked over to a chest of drawers looking like Christmas had come early. Luna was standing in the middle of the room in a haze. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually everyone sat down in front of Harry.  
  
"This is the old Hufflepuff common room that was abandoned when more students began enrolling in Hogwarts," Harry started.   
  
"You already told us- hurry it up," Fred said impatiently.   
  
"Erm, sorry. All right anyways, the DA has changed slightly. Every once and a while we will be required to take a test," Harry said. Neville suddenly turned very green. "Don't worry though, I'll just pass everyone anyways. Ok, let's get started. The first thing we are going to do is practice everything we learned last year. We'll begin with Stunning. Break off into pairs and make sure you have a lot of cushions around you!" Harry called out as everyone immediately began practicing.   
  
After Stunning spells, they practiced Disarming, the Impediment Jinx, and finally the Reductor Curse. Harry was pleased to note that everyone had retained most of the skills they learned from the year before. The members that had fought at the Ministry of Magic, especially Neville, had a new confidence in them that was reflected in their spells. Ginny's Reductor curse had even obliterated a couch and Neville managed to Stun Hermione twice.   
  
As Harry had expected, the members of the DA were not very excited when he mentioned that they would be spending a lot of time simply dodging hexes, especially when he said they could only use the Jelly Legs curse.   
  
"Jelly Legs? That's it?" George asked, looking completely let down. "I thought we were going to be doing something icool/i!"   
  
"This is really important," Hermione snapped. "And Jelly Legs is one of the easiest jinxes to reverse. If you want to stand around reviving people all night be my guest!" Everyone stopped whining after that. Even though they originally complained about having to dodge jinxes, in the end everyone ended up having a lot of fun and invented a new game of tag. After about an hour, though, Harry stopped them.  
  
"All right, one last thing," he said.  
  
"Oi, come on, Harry, we were having fun!" Fred called out as George hit Zacharias Smith with a Jelly Legs curse. Hermione went to his rescue, but only after he wobbled around for a couple minutes. She was still really annoyed at Zacharias for being so rude to Harry earlier.  
  
"Well actually, we were just going to practice Patronuses," Harry said. Everyone got really excited. "Now remember to say iExpecto Patronum/i really loud and clear and try to think of your happiest memory while you are saying it." Everyone nodded. Hermione and Cho immediately produced their own Patronuses. Cho was giggling at her swan that was floating around her in circles.   
  
Harry looked over and found that now, he could correct Cho whenever he wanted and he was no longer embarrassed when he talked to her. He didn't even care that she was going out with Michael Corner, who seemed to be having difficulty producing his own Patronus. He appeared to be getting angrier by the second and having Harry point out some of his mistakes was not helping him at all.   
  
"He's just jealous of you because you went out with Cho," Hermione whispered to him.  
  
"What? But we went out once and it was a complete disaster!" Harry replied.  
  
"Doesn't matter, he feels threatened by you. Maybe you should just leave him alone," Hermione commented. "Look, Neville's almost got his! Good job, Neville!" Harry walked away from her when he noticed Fiona waving her wand viciously.   
  
"Fiona, you are trying way too hard," Harry said, watching her. "Calm down and try to think of something happy!"  
  
"I'm trying, but it's so hard!" She said, looking extremely annoyed at her wand.   
  
"Come on, Fiona, remember when I told you about the swamp me and George made?" Fred called to her. Fiona started laughing and threads of silver streaked out the end of her wand.   
  
"That's better," Harry said. "See what I mean?"   
  
"Thanks Fred, thanks Harry," Fiona said and once again began concentrating on her Patronus.  
  
"Harry, look at the time!" Hermione called to him. Harry looked at his watch. It was almost curfew.   
  
"It's time to go!" Everyone grumbled as they headed towards the door. Hermione and Ron stayed behind with Harry. Fiona was off in the corner of the room giggling at something Fred was showing her and George was off looking in the chest of drawers again. Luna was with him and she appeared to be idoting/i on him. Harry shuddered at the thought.  
  
"What did you think?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry.  
  
"It went pretty well," Harry said. "No one got any worse. Ginny and Neville got loads better. You better study up, Ron, because pretty soon Ginny will be passing you by!" Ron scowled at him, but really he felt pride for his little sister; she was really good with jinxes and a fast learner.  
  
"What about Fiona?" Hermione asked.  
  
"She did pretty good," Harry said.  
  
"Not so good aim with the Stunning, though. Hit Dean once or twice when she was supposed to be aiming for Fred!" Ron said laughing.   
  
"Sure that wasn't on purpose?" Hermione asked him. "Her aim was ok. Her Reductor Curse needs some work and she's a little behind with the Patronus, but it was her first class."  
  
"I noticed," Harry said, thinking of how Fiona had barely blown apart one of the cushions.   
  
"Wait, why wouldn't that be on purpose?" Ron asked, still thinking about how Fiona had Stunned Dean. Hermione rolled her eyes at him; sometimes he was so slow.  
  
"Because of Ginny," Hermione said, looking at him as if it were the most obvious thing. "Girls always stick together."  
  
"Cho came without Marietta," Ron pointed out.  
  
"Yes, well, Marietta was a flake and besides, who would let her back in after what she did? I was surprised Harry asked Cho back."  
  
"Why?" Harry asked, looking surprised at Hermione. "She's really good." Hermione just looked at him.  
  
"Well, I'm going back to the common room. I have some Arithmancy to finish before tomorrow."   
  
"Night Hermione," Ron said.  
  
"Yea, night Hermione," Harry added. Hermione picked up her bag and walked through the house elf sized door.  
  
"What is going on with Fred and Fiona?" Ron asked, watching them from across the room.  
  
"No clue, looks like they like each other, though," Harry said, watching as Fred helped a laughing Fiona stand up. She had tripped over one of the giant cushions on the floor.   
  
"You can never tell with Fred. He acts like that around every girl. Er, Harry, what is Looney doing?" Ron asked, looking over Harry's shoulder.  
  
"I don't think I want to know," Harry said, glancing in her direction. Something pink and foamy was coming out of her wand and George was next to her, laughing hysterically.  
  
"Oh, never mind, one of George's fake wands again," Ron said. He didn't seem to have noticed that Luna was sneaking looks at him all night or that she started faintly humming 'Weasley is Our King' when he had mentioned something about Quidditch to Harry.   
  
"Alright, we are past curfew!" Harry called out to them. "Bye Fred, bye George!"   
  
"Bye Harry, we'll keep you updated about business!" George called back after he cleaned up the mess Luna had made.  
  
That night, as Harry lay in bed, he couldn't help but think of the DA and how happy he was that meetings started again. He was really looking forward to all the new things that Professor Skont was going to teach him. He was also looking forward to getting into the DA room alone. He was just as curious as Fred and George about what was in that chest of drawers. He drifted off to sleep right as he was remembering the look on Luna's face as pink foam streamed out of her wand.   
  
"Harry! Harry, wake up!"   
  
Harry sat up quickly. "What? What's going on?" He asked quickly. He looked over to find Ron still grasping his shoulders.  
  
"You were muttering in your sleep again. Rather loudly, too. Sorry, but I had to wake you," Ron said, looking at him skeptically. "I thought the Occlumency lessons were working?"  
  
"They were, for a while," Harry said. "What time is it, anyhow?"  
  
"Four in the morning," Ron answered. "You sure you're ok cause I'm goin back to bed if you are."  
  
"I'm fine," Harry said. "Remember what I was saying this time?"  
  
"Nothing intelligible, really. Something about the Hog's Head, though. That's about it," Ron mumbled as he trudged back to bed. "Night, Harry. I'll see you in a couple hours." Then he drew the curtains on his bed. Within minutes, Harry heard him snoring again.  
  
Harry had never felt so wide-awake. He looked over at the stack of books lying haphazardly on the floor. i'Might as well get something done since I'm awake,' /i he thought. By the time Ron woke again, Harry had finished an essay for Charms and was beginning one for Potions.   
  
"So that's how you've been finishing all of your homework," Ron said, accusingly.  
  
"Yea, right," Harry said. "Maybe if you didn't spend so much time with Lavender, you could finish your work too." Ron looked at him in shock.  
  
"Harry, I only played her in chess a couple times," Ron said, yet Harry could see his ears beginning to turn pink. But then, Ron's ears turned pink when he talked about any girl.  
  
Ron walked into the bathroom to begin getting ready for classes.  
  
"Let's go, Ron, it's time for breakfast," Harry called to him a few minutes later. Ron stumbled out of the bathroom. It looked like he had been sleeping. "Ron, please tell me you didn't fall asleep while you were brushing your teeth."  
  
When the owl post came at breakfast, Ron was extremely surprised when Pig flew over to him with a letter attached to his leg.   
  
"Who is that from?" Lavender asked, sweetly. Harry could tell she was just being nosy.   
  
"My mother," Ron said, frowning at the long letter in his hand.  
  
"Oh, that's nice," Lavender said, suddenly sounding really bored. She got up and went to sit next to Dean. Ginny scowled at her.  
  
"Well, Percy got married," Ron said. "And he got demoted. He's junior secretary for some department in Ministry of Magic. Fudge sacked him, apparently. Dad reckons its cause he doesn't need Percy to spy on Dumbledore anymore. I say its cause Percy's a big idiot and really obnoxious."  
  
"What?" Hermione burst out, obviously ignoring the rest of the news. "He got imarried/i? To who?"  
  
"Penelope Clearwater, of course. Who else could ever stand him for more than five minutes? What a git, he didn't even invite mum or dad to the wedding. Mum's really upset. She wishes you the best, though Harry. Funny, she's all upset about Percy and yet, she still manages to check up on Harry."  
  
"Let me see," Ginny demanded.  
  
"Hold on, I'm not finished yet," Ron said. "Oh, and she warned us not to do anything stupid. I guess she found out about Fred and George coming the other day cause she mentions it briefly and she doesn't seem too thrilled about it. All right, Ginny, I'm done now." He said annoyed as he handed her the letter.   
  
"Um, sorry but, who's Percy?" Fiona asked innocently.  
  
"One of my older brothers," Ron answered. Hermione gave Fiona a look that warned her against asking anything else.  
  
"Look at those boys over there! They're fighting and making a huge mess!" Hermione said. She immediately jumped up and began scolding them. Ron looked on, clearly amused.   
  
"Shouldn't the iother/i Gryffindor Prefect be doing something?" Harry asked him, mockingly.   
  
"What's the use? Hermione's doing a good enough job already," Ron answered, laughing as a bowl of porridge flew past Hermione's head.   
  
Ernie Macmillan began helping Hermione clean up the mess that had gathered around the table. Ron's ears began to turn red.   
  
"Ron, let's get to class," Harry said, trying to get Ron's mind elsewhere.  
  
"That Ernie Macmillan is a big git, you know? Always trying to look better than everyone else," Ron said as he gathered his books.  
  
"He's just trying to help, Ron," Fiona interrupted. "Do we really have to go to class already? I hate Transfigurations!"  
  
"Only cause you're bad at them. You're the only iweirdo/i I know that doesn't mind going to Potions," Ron said.  
  
"It's not so bad if Snape doesn't bother you. I still have that dumb detention with him on Thursday!"  
  
"Snape's detentions aren't so bad," Harry said, remembering all the detentions he'd ever done. The ones with Umbridge and Lockhart stuck out the most.   
  
"Let's go, Hermione looks like she's going to hex someone and Ginny doesn't look so happy either," Ron said, pushing Fiona out the door.   
  
"That was probably my worst class yet," Fiona groaned as they walked out of the Transfigurations classroom. "I tried everything she said, and nothing happened!"  
  
In class that day, McGonagall had started an entirely new unit- how to transfigure objects from pure air, or conjuring. Harry had remembered how Professor McGonagall had once absentmindedly conjured a chair for him to sit in. It had proved to be a lot harder than he expected.  
  
"All we had to do was conjure quills," Hermione said. Hers had come out perfectly almost as soon as she had tried, of course. "If you really need help, I'd be happy to help you."  
  
"Thanks, Hermione, but not tonight," Fiona moaned.  
  
"Quidditch practice at exactly six o'clock," Harry reminded her. "I'll see you there, Fiona. Oh, and don't worry about getting a broom. McGonagall said she has one for you."  
  
"Great, just what I need," Ron said, thinking about Quidditch practice.   
  
"Ron, you are still being our Keeper whether you like it or not," Harry said. "You have a lot of work to do, though." Ron really was a good keeper, but he tended to get nervous when other people watched him. In the last game, he managed to do really well and actually saved Gryffindor from losing. Harry hoped that this would make him more confident.   
  
"Quaffle," Hermione said, waiting for the portrait to swing open. She walked over to a particularly large table and began spreading out her books.  
  
"She's starting her homework already?" Ron asked, looking at Harry disbelievingly.   
  
"Yes, Ron. I, unlike you, like to be caught up on my homework. I'm busy tonight too," she said, looking him square in the eye.   
  
"Well, have fun wherever you're going," Ron said, his feelings a little hurt. He walked away and went up the stairs leading towards the dormitories. Harry rolled his eyes. Hermione and Ron were always disagreeing about something, even something as stupid as when they did their homework.  
  
"Starting your homework, Harry?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"Not yet, I still have Quidditch positions to look over. Four people are trying out for Chaser and only two for Beater. Fiona, looks like you're our second Beater. Jack Sloper decided he'd rather play Chaser. Let's hope he's loads better at Chaser than he was at Beater or we're in real trouble. Then there's Ginny, Colin Creevey, and Dean. This is going to be interesting. Colin Creevey probably weighs less than his broom!" Harry replied, looking crestfallen at the paper in front of him.   
  
"Collin Creevey?" Fiona asked.  
  
"He's in the DA," Hermione said. "Sitting over there with his camera. That's his brother Dennis sitting next to him on the couch."  
  
"Oh, him. Ok, I remember him now," Fiona said. "Isn't he the one who managed to Stun himself?"  
  
"That was an accident; he didn't know there was a mirror behind Dennis," Harry said, frowning at the paper as he drew different defense positions on it.   
  
"Well, you should have a fun practice," Hermione said, looking up from her Arithmancy book.  
  
"Don't remind me," Harry groaned, turning over the paper and beginning to fill up the back.   
  
Six o'clock came a lot faster than Harry would have liked, but he suddenly found himself out on the Quidditch field. It felt weird to be playing without his old team, especially Fred and George. Now all he had to look forward to was Ron, who currently was looking as if he were about to be sick.  
  
"Ron, why do you look so nervous? You're already on the team," Harry reminded him.   
  
"Are you sure about this?" Ron asked, secretly envisioning the entire stadium filled with people.  
  
"Remember how well you did last year- you won the House Cup!" Harry said, encouragingly.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I guess I did," Ron answered, remembering the goals he had saved. Harry winced slightly, hoping Ron wouldn't get overly confident. For weeks after he made all those catches, Ron walked around like he owned everything. It kind of reminded Harry of Percy.  
  
"Ok, first we are going to have Chaser tryouts. You'll each take turns with the quaffle and try to score. Ron, if you would please resume your position as Keeper. We'll take Ginny first, Dean second, Colin third, and Jack last. Good luck to all of you," Harry said, wishing that he would find at least one other decent player besides Ginny for Chaser.   
  
Ginny made her first shot effortlessly. Harry could tell that Ron was upset, but Ron didn't say anything. He just threw the quaffle to Dean, who was waiting next. Dean turned out to not be so bad. From what Harry could see of his first shot, he was a decent flyer and had decent aim. He liked to show off a little too much for Harry, but all in all he wasn't iso/i bad.  
  
Harry looked over and groaned. Colin was holding the quaffle and looking down at ground with a look of fear clearly etched on his face. i'Who would try out for a Quidditch team if they were scared to fly?'/i Harry thought to himself. He was beginning to loose patience and would rather have taken a bludger to the face than watch Colin staring at the ground for ages. Suddenly, Ginny flew over to him and began talking to him. Colin smiled and looked towards the goal. He finally started to move.   
  
"He's not so bad," Fiona said. She was standing next to Harry. "Well, once he starts moving anyhow." Harry had to admit, Colin really wasn't so bad. The only thing that seemed to be against him was his size. He was pretty small and would probably get injured really easily, especially against Slytherin. Slytherin seemed to pick their team based on size, or in Draco Malfoy's case, their father's money. Colin almost succeeded in scoring but in the last second, Ron saved the quaffle. It was a pretty impressive save and Harry called out to him in encouragement.   
  
Jack Sloper was next. Harry remembered how Fred and George had made fun of his flying the year before. Harry watched him closely. He wasn't a great flyer, but he wasn't so terrible either. At least he wasn't scared of heights. He even managed to get the quaffle past Ron, whose ears turned bright red in shame.   
  
Harry had the Chasers continuing this practice while he watched the Beaters. Andrew Kirke got to the bludger first and tried to be very nice about hitting it in Fiona's direction. Harry scowled at him. In Quidditch, you couldn't be nice to a player simply because she was a girl. Oliver Wood had taught him that when his first year when he was playing against Cho.   
  
Then Harry turned his attention to Fiona. She wasn't a very good flyer, Harry could tell that immediately. She seemed to look a little confused at how high up she was. Harry rolled his eyes. i'Oh, great. Maybe I can convince Jack to stay as a Beater,'/i he thought desperately.  
  
As Harry was beginning to lose faith in Fiona, she began to swing her bat. It connected with the bludger and Andrew had to roll over on his broom to get out of its path. Barely a second later, it flew directly where his head had been.   
  
"You're not supposed to try and kill me, you know! I'm still on your team!" he called to her, clearly annoyed.  
  
"Sorry, just a little nervous," Fiona replied. Harry could have jumped for joy. He would personally give Fiona flying lessons as long as she was on the Gryffindor team as Beater.   
  
A little while later, he called everyone in. "I just want to thank everyone for trying out," Harry said. "Positions will be posted on Monday. Good practice everyone; you may head back to the common room. Quickly, too because Slytherin should be getting here soon."  
  
Ron waited behind everyone else so he could walk with Harry. Ginny and Fiona were chatting up ahead.  
  
"What'd you think of Fiona hitting that bludger? I don't think I'll ever get her angry," Ron said.   
  
"Now the only thing we need to do is give her flying lessons," Harry said.  
  
"She wasn't that bad, Harry."  
  
"Ron, she could barely fly. If it weren't for Andrew hitting the bludger nicely at her, she wouldn't have been able to hit it. I thought she was going to fall off!" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"You thought ishe/i was going to fall off? What about Colin Creevey? I thought he was going to wet himself when the first time he looked at the ground. That was incredibly pathetic," Ron said.  
  
"He wasn't so bad once he started moving."  
  
"Harry, please say you aren't putting Colin Creevey on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team," Ron pleaded with him.   
  
"Obviously not. He'll be reserve. We'll have to try to find a way to get rid of his fear of heights, that way we can use him next year. And I wouldn't say anything about Colin Creevey; at least his little sister's quaffle didn't get past him," Harry taunted, ignoring the fact that Colin didn't have a little sister.  
  
"Hey, she's my little sister! I ihad/i to let her score," Ron said quickly, his ears burning red.   
  
"Whatever you say, Ron. Come on, I'll race you to the common room."  
  
"All right, but expect to lose, Harry. Expect to lose."  
  
Ok, well that wasn't my favorite of chapters, but you know.... important to the story, etc. Hope you liked it, though. And please, take the two seconds to review...it just makes my day! 


	10. Chapter Ten: Meetings

13

Ok, well first of all, I'd like to say that I updated my chapters 6-8. I'd also like to apologize for my lack of updating...two weeks is a really long time! I unfortunately, just moved into my college dorm and have been bogged down with the whole moving out and in. Not to mention all the mandatory crap they're makin us do so that we could "get to know each other" but you know how It goes....

Special thanks to all my nice readers, especially: Harmen, Sentinel-witch, lyss33, harryptaxd204, aalikane, LupinLover99, and ron-hater XXVII...thanks for your reviews, I really appreciate them. More special thanks go to my betas: icycoolhermione and Dreamermarie. They are so amazing....

Harmen has left me such large responses that I feel I should respond to some of them, so here it goes: Of course what happens to Fiona is similar to Harry- this story is based closely on the books. However you should notice that I changed some sections. I am forever rereading and reediting chapters. I actually forgot to post my edits on here, hence the note above. It's good you recognize Professor u Skont, she wasn't supposed to be a big 'secret'. Hermione has already figured her out. Ron and Harry however, are a little slow on the upbringing. Sorry about the vampires but there will be more informative lessons later that actually have to do with the plot, so don't worry. Thanks for your input and I like that fact that Fiona can't fly either. ;)

To all those who are wondering. Fiona is in no way related to Harry. This is NOT one of those long lost twin sister or cousin or whatever fics. So, you can stop thinking that.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, obviously....

center /center 

center Chapter 10: Meetings /center 

Early Monday morning, Harry walked down to Madam Hooch's office to post the new Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry, being the captain, was obviously still Seeker and he had kept Ron as Keeper. For Beater, Harry assigned Fiona and Andrew Kirke. For Chaser Harry had Ginny Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Jack Sloper. He decided to put Colin Creevey as Reserve. Ginny was Reserve Seeker, just in case. He didn't want to admit it to Ron, but next in line for Captain was Ginny. Ron might have been on the team much longer, but Ginny was a really good flyer.

He quickly posted the team roster before heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was barely six thirty and breakfast wasn't served yet but Harry didn't feel like going back to the common room that morning and so, he sat at the Gryffindor table alone.

"Mr. Potter, I've been looking everywhere for you," Professor McGonagall said, in a hushed tone.

"Sorry, Professor McGonagall, I was just posting the Quidditch Team roster."

"Really? Fiona's broom just came in, now that you mention it. Nimbus Two Thousand and One; very nice broom," Professor McGonagall said, side tracking herself. "But, Potter, I am to inform you that you have a meeting in Professor Dumbledore's office tonight at eight o'clock. The new password is Whiz-bangs."

"Thank you, Professor."

"You'd better be on time for this meeting, Potter," she warned him.

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, remembering how he had been late to his meeting with McGonagall the year before.

After the professor left, it wasn't much time before Hermione sat down next to him.

"Ron and Fiona are at Hooch's office. I don't see why all of you are so obsessed with Quidditch. Since Dumbledore is spending all this time with these Halloween Balls to promote inter-house unity, he might as well cancel Quidditch. It creates the biggest divide out of everything," Hermione started. Harry groaned.

"Hermione, I know you don't understand anything about Quidditch, so why don't you give it a rest," he grumbled.

"What do you mean i _Balls_ /i ? As in plural, meaning there will be more than one?" Ron practically shouted, his voice cracking loudly. Hermione tried not to smirk.

"Didn't you see the signs? They're posted everywhere, Ron, really. For the first part of the day, we have to charm our hair different colors and completely disguise ourselves and then for the real ball at night, we all just come as ourselves. We have to wear the same robes though- you know, that way people can recognize you."

"Having a scar across my forehead pretty much labels me," Harry replied angrily.

"Oh come on, Harry! It'll be fun!" Hermione tried persuading him.

"Yea, watch us start talking to Malfoy. Mind you, I'd know who he was right away, stupid git," Ron said.

"Ron, that's exactly the whole point. You won't be able to tell who Malfoy is because he'll be looking so different. Maybe you'll learn to be friendly to people you otherwise wouldn't talk to. I mean Malfoy is stretching it a bit far, but you never know. You are definitely going and don't even think of taking one of those abominable skiving snackboxes and I know you have one, too. I saw it in your bag this morning," Hermione rambled. Ron glared at her. She was so obnoxious sometimes.

"Yes, mum," he spat at her before picking up his books and leaving.

"Could you two sit together for more than five minutes without getting into an argument?" Harry glared at her before picking up his own books and leaving.

center /center 

The rest of the day, Harry ignored Ron and Hermione the best that he could. He was simply too tired of their constant arguing. During class, he sat next to Fiona and only briefly responded to them. That night, he walked out of the dormitories to find them screaming at each other, again. He rolled his eyes and kept walking; he didn't want to be late for Dumbledore's appointment. As he walked out of the portrait hole he distinctly heard Hermione say the reason that Harry was angry was because Ron was the stupidest prat she had ever seen and was totally ignorant of other people's feelings. Ron said he was angry because Hermione thought she was better than everyone else and didn't care about other people's opinions. Obviously they were just screaming about their own problems with each other and they were only using Harry as a scapegoat.

"Whiz-bangs," Harry muttered, angrily. He was not in a very good mood, which wasn't going to help if Dumbledore decided to practice Occlumency.

"Good evening, Harry. How is everything in the Gryffindor common room?" Professor Dumbledore greeted him. He was smiling knowingly at Harry.

"All right, I guess," Harry responded irritably.

"And what's troubling you?" Dumbledore asked him. Harry could not think of why Dumbledore even cared that he was upset. Ron and Hermione's squabble would surely be insignificant to him.

"Er- nothing, Professor. It's just that Ron and Hermione are arguing again," Harry said truthfully.

"Yes, so I hear. But if you notice, when it's really important, they always work together. Hermione and Ron just grew up differently. In time, they'll learn to get along, or maybe they won't. Some of the best relationships are based on arguments and debates."

Harry looked at him skeptically. He had no idea what Dumbledore was talking about and didn't see how it would help him from keeping Ron and Hermione from ripping each other's heads off during breakfast.

"Now Harry, Professor Safia told me that you are progressing in your Occlumency lessons. I must say that I am astounded by your achievements in this area. I know it will be hard for you, but I was wondering if you would also begin learning Legilimency while you are practicing Occlumency. I feel it would be to your advantage if you become proficient at Legilimency. Of course, you will need a partner for this and although you immediately will think of Ron, I caution you on this. You will have to look into this person's mind and you will see some of their secrets, wishes, and fears. A great amount of trust has to be placed on your Legilimency partner. I recommend that you think about using Fiona. You could both learn from this experience, you know," Dumbledore studied him closely. Harry was frowning and he appeared to be deep in thought.

"Professor, why was Fiona the only one taken from Diso?" Harry asked him.

"Harry, you have asked me about her already and again I will tell you the same thing. Fiona will tell you when she is ready."

"But Professor, you are not the only one that is interested in her," Harry said, choosing his words carefully. Dumbledore looked taken aback; he did not think that Harry would want to talk about Fiona.

"That is true, I'm guessing that you've already deduced the reason Diso was attacked Harry and I will tell you it is perfectly true. The deatheaters attacked Diso looking to kill Fiona. Yet another way for Voldemort to get to me, but again he has failed. At Diso, there was reckless killing and reckless fighting. This is very unlike his true followers, who are very stealthy and operate in secret. It has caused us to believe that Voldemort has once again begun recruiting newer and younger members."

"Like Draco Malfoy," Harry spat out, immediately regretting what he said. He fixed his eyes on a spot on the floor.

"Pardon?" Dumbledore asked him, intrigued. Harry looked at him briefly.

"Well, I mean it's common knowledge about his dad now, I was just assuming," Harry said hastily. Even as he said this, Harry knew that Dumbledore could see right through him.

"You know Harry, new protections have been added to Hogwarts this year. It has allowed me to know of different things that are going on," Dumbledore said, looking at him intently.

"Would it know, say, if a certain person did an Unforgivable Curse and who that person was?" Harry asked. He was not going to completely betray Fiona, but one look at Dumbledore's face and Harry had a feeling it was going to be very hard. Dumbledore was again looking at him, speechless. He appeared to be getting angry.

"If someone were caught doing an Unforgivable Curse, Harry, they would be immediately expelled," Dumbledore informed him.

"It wasn't me, Professor, it's just that Malfoy-"

"Yes, Harry, why do you keep mentioning Draco Malfoy? You know, maybe you should try giving him a chance."

That was all Harry needed. All of his pent up frustration seemed to flow right out of him.

"Give him a chance? Give i _him_ /i a i _chance_ /i ? Are you kidding? Do you even understand what you are i _saying_ /i ?" A loud thud could be heard as Harry stood up quickly, knocking his chair over. He banged on the table loudly. "I will never, ever give i _Draco Malfoy_ /i a chance! i _Ever_ /i ! He used an Unforgivable Curse on Fiona! I would i _never_ /i trust him! I will never i _forgive_ /i him! And he is not under the Imperius Curse, so no one better believe i _that_ /i story when he makes it up!" By then, Harry was in such a rage that sparks were flying out of the wand in his pocket. He pulled his wand out and slammed it on the table. Dumbledore sat quietly, taking in Harry's ranting and ravings and trying to make some sense out of them. When he heard that Draco had indeed been doing an Unforgivable Curse, a look of anger flashed across his face.

"Alright, Harry that is enough for tonight, I think it's time you went to bed. And do not worry about Draco. I will see to this matter. Just one thing, how are lessons with Professor Skont? Have you been meeting with the DA regularly?"

"Yes, they're fine," Harry said, lamely picking up the chair he knocked over. He wished he wasn't so moody and he absentmindedly rubbed his scar.

"Very well, good night, Harry and please, practice your Occlumency before you go to bed."

"Night, Professor," Harry mumbled as he left Dumbledore's office.

Harry had a lot to think about that night. All along he had known that it was because of Fiona that Diso had been attacked, but to hear Dumbledore say it was quite different. And the fact that Voldemort was recruiting new members was definitely not a good sign. Harry drifted off to sleep wondering exactly what Dumbledore was expecting him to learn from Fiona if he chose her to be his Legilimency partner.

center /center 

The rest of the week went by rather quickly and Thursday night seemed to creep up on Fiona.

"Don't worry," Ron said, looking up from his Charms book. "Fred and George have gotten detention from Snape i _loads_ /i of times and they're still ok."

"Detention with Snape isn't so bad," Harry added, totally ignoring his own Charms book. "Come on, I'll walk you to the dungeons."

"Don't forget your bag!" Hermione interrupted, shoving Fiona's bag filled with potions supplies in her lap.

"Harry, I know where the dungeons are, you don't have to walk me."

"Let's go," Harry said. He didn't want to tell her that ever since her bout with Malfoy, he and Ron took turns keeping tabs on her.

"If you must," Fiona said, walking out the portrait hole. She was trying to look brave, but really, she was nervous about her first detention.

Harry and Fiona walked all the way to the dungeons in silence. After his talk with Dumbledore, Harry wasn't sure of what he should say to her. Did she know what Dumbledore told him? Dumbledore kept saying that she would tell Harry, but Harry was beginning to think that Fiona didn't know anything at all.

"All right, here's the classroom. Really, Harry, please say you aren't going to sit outside and wait for me."

"Of course not, I'll uh, see you tomorrow, Fiona."

"Night, Harry."

Fiona walked into the classroom. Snape was waiting for her. He did not look very pleased to see her, but then, Fiona reasoned, he never really looked pleased.

"Now, you will be sorting out these different potions ingredients and putting them in the correctly labeled bottles. Don't forget to count how much of each item; I need a clear answer for each substance."

"But, Professor Snape, sir, where are the bottles?" Fiona asked, looking around. All she could see was a pile of what appeared to be various plants and dried beetles.

"You'll get the bottles after you've finished counting and sorting, now get to work and I hope you've brought a pair of gloves with you," he said to her before walking over to his desk.

Fiona quickly set about her extremely boring task. Luckily, she had listened, and by listened she took the bag that was shoved at her before she left, to Hermione and brought along some of her potions supplies. Her gloves just happened to be in her bag. She separated all the plants and put them in different piles. She was instantly grateful for the gloves because most of the plants were prickly and she definitely did i _not_ /i want to touch the dried beetles, some of which were not so dried and were crawling across the table. She also thought she saw something that resembled boresnap, which if she remembered her Herbology lesson from that morning, it would create large boils and stings on her hands and arms.

After what felt like ages to Fiona, but was really only about an hour, Professor McGonagall opened the door and walked briskly into the room. She eyed Fiona before turning to Snape. Neither said a word to each other, they simply walked out the door, leaving Fiona to continue her work alone. She sighed, it was extremely boring work.

Fiona looked over at Snape's desk. On top of it was a round, shallow bowl that appeared to have runes across the top. It was filled with a calm, silvery liquid. It was completely mesmerizing. She tried to continue with her work, knowing that if she was caught idly staring into space for one second Snape would make her come back the next day to finish, but she couldn't help herself.

Fiona glanced around the room. Snape still wasn't back yet and she didn't think he was coming back anytime soon as he'd dashed out of the room as soon as McGonagall had stepped in. She cautiously stood up and walked to his desk. Upon looking at the bowl again, she noticed that the silvery liquid had gone clear and she peered in. What she saw astonished her and she let out a gasp. There were i _people_ /i in the little bowl! She moved her face closer to the bowl so that she was directly on top of it, her nose practically touching the surface.

Dumbledore was there with a little girl about a year or so old and he was holding her hand. She had curly white-blonde hair and big green eyes. She was crying and didn't seem to want to let go of his hand and he was talking to a woman.

Fiona tried to push her face even closer, but in doing so she lost her balance and tumbled forward, falling right into the scene below her.

"Professor, I would be happy to take her back with me," the woman said. Fiona looked over. The woman speaking was none other than Marya, her housemother at the orphanage. Fiona felt tears begin to form in her eyes as she looked into the young Marya's beautiful face, remembering that she was now dead.

Fiona watched as the little girl grasped onto Dumbledore's leg for dear life, but Marya managed to pry her loose and was now holding her close to her chest. Fiona looked at Dumbledore's face and saw a tear twinkling in his eye.

"Please, take special care of her," he said to Marya, before turning to go. "Good bye, little Fia, I will see you again one day." Then he was gone.

Fiona cried out. i _SHE_ /i was that little Fia! But why had Dumbledore sent her away?

Suddenly, Fiona felt two arms around her shoulders begin to lift her up. She was pulled out of the large bowl and back into Snape's classroom. She looked into the eyes of a very annoyed Snape and suddenly wished herself to be back in the bowl.

" i _What_ /i did you think you were doing?" Snape demanded from her, not really expecting her to respond.

"What, what is that?" Fiona asked him, timidly. Snape stared at her menacingly, then walked over to the bowl and looked inside. He frowned at what he saw.

"How much of this did you see?" he snarled at her.

"Only- only a little. Just Professor Dumbledore giving her, well, giving i _me_ /i away."

"Yes, well. You seem cause much more problems than you're worth," he spat at her. "That is a Pensieve. i _Professor Dumbledore's_ /i pensieve, to be exact." He glanced at the work she had done earlier. "I see you've done enough damage for now, you may go."

"But, Professor-"Fiona started.

"I SAID LEAVE," he shouted at her.

"Yes, Professor," Fiona mumbled as she backed her way out the door. As soon as the classroom door closed behind her, she started running and didn't stop until she got to the Gryffindor common room.

"You're back early," Hermione said as Fiona walked into the Gryffindor common room.

"Detention didn't go so well," Fiona admitted.

"Well, I'm just finishing this Transfigurations. Need any help with yours?" Hermione asked her.

"Not tonight," Fiona said. "I'm tired; I'm going to go to bed. Night, Hermione."

"Night, Fiona."

center /center 

The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry sat quietly next to Hermione. He had decided to simply ignore all of Hermione and Ron's bickering and so things were fine in their friendship once again.

"Where is Professor Safia?" Hermione whispered to him.

"How should I know?" he whispered back.

"Well, did she mention something during your last Occlumency lesson?"

"No, but she's usually late to class," Harry said. That was very true. Professor Safia was usually around five or ten minutes late to all of her classes. It was common knowledge that you could usually be a few seconds late to her class. That didn't work all the time, though, as Harry and Ron had found out last Tuesday. They had a detention with her the same night. Nothing bad of course, just writing lines.

"Good afternoon class," Professor Safia said as she breezed into the room. Hermione had a sour look on her face. She clearly was against Professor Safia's lax behavior.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" the professor asked her as she took attendance.

"Oh no, Professor," Hermione answered quickly.

"Good. Well, I must say I was very happy with all of your exams. Everyone passed by a substantial amount. And so, it is time for a new unit! Today we will begin with dueling. I understand that you had a brief dueling club several years ago; ours will be a bit different. Today we will go over rules and I will split you into pairs," Professor Safia said. Hermione's mouth dropped open. That was i _NOT_ /i what the next unit in the book said. How could she not follow the book? Her hand shot up in the air.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Um, what happened to Chapter Five: Dealing with Common Curses?" Hermione blurted.

"Hermione, we will certainly be covering that chapter in our dueling," Professor Safia said, raising an eyebrow in Hermione's direction. "Now, the dueling we do in this class will be very important. I suggest you take notes on this lecture, Mr. Longbottom, instead of just staring into space. Contrary to popular belief, the idea of dueling is not just to hurt your opponent worse than yourself. Instead, you should try to protect yourself the best you can before you try hexing your opponent back. Also, in this class we will use simple curses, no need to hex your partner into oblivion."

Harry sat back and pretended to listen. Dueling was probably one of the things he was best at and he already decided that he didn't feel like paying attention in class today. Instead he found himself thinking about Sirius.

i 'If only he hadn't fallen through that veil- if it weren't for me he wouldn't have even been there. No, NO. Stop thinking this-' /i 

"Harry, Harry Potter! Are you paying attention?" Professor Safia asked, looking at him warily.

"Er- yes, Professor." Harry hadn't even noticed that he was resting his head on his desk with his eyes closed.

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Then what was I just saying."

"How careful we have to be while dueling and um, stuff," Harry said lamely.

"Stay after class, Harry."

"Yes, Professor." Hermione was looking at him, concern clearly etched across her face. Hermione wasn't the only one; the whole class had turned around to gawk at him. Everyone except Fiona; it seemed the more people turned around to notice him, the straighter ahead she looked.

"What's gotten into you?" Ron asked him. "You've never fallen asleep in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class before, even with Umbridge!"

"Nothing, just tired I guess," Harry mumbled. Ron looked at him skeptically, but turned his attention back to Professor Safia- he didn't want to have to stay after class with Harry.

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"Harry, please try to stay awake in my class."

"Professor Safia, I was not sleeping, I was just-"

"Daydreaming? Thinking off into space? Come on, Harry. You need to try harder."

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, automatically. His brain had shut down halfway through class and his scar was prickling.

"Do you need to see Madame Pomfrey?" she asked him, studying his suddenly pale, clammy skin.

"Fine, just tired," Harry managed. He walked quickly out of the room. Something was not right. i _'Probably just getting sick is all,'_ /i he thought to himself, ignoring the fact that most wizards do not get common sicknesses or diseases. He hurried to his common room and didn't even bother drawing his curtains before he stumbled onto his bed.

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Harry was back at the first DA meeting in the Hog's Head. He could see Dung sitting off in a corner, dressed as a witch so that he wouldn't be thrown out. He looked around. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were sitting around him. No one else was there.

"We have to get rid of her," Hermione was saying.

"Yeah, she's weird," Ron admitted.

"Who?" Harry asked ignorantly, suddenly focusing on their conversation.

"Fiona, that's who. She doesn't trust us and I don't trust her," Hermione said.

"Me either," Ron said, echoing Hermione once again.

"I guess you're right," Harry found himself agreeing with them, although he was unsure why.

"She's going to become a Death Eater. All this time she's really been in league with Draco and she's spying on us," Hermione said, bitterly. "You know if you go past the bar, there's a door that leads to the rest this place. Read about it in our old History of Magic book."

"Really," Harry said, looking at the back door. He suddenly had the urge to go through there.

"But back to Fiona," Hermione said. "We should get rid of her- no, we NEED to get rid of her." Harry looked over at Hermione in surprise only to notice that he WAS Hermione and quickly he was becoming someone else. He looked down at his hands and gasped at the long, spindly fingers. Then, he let out a terrifying laugh. His voice was pure evil.

"Enough," he spat, looking at a line of his cloaked followers. "You have not been doing your duties. Where is the information on Fiona Clarec that I have demanded?"

"My Lord," a cloaked figure stepped forward and bowed low. Harry could not recognize his voice. "Fiona is constantly being watched by the despicable Potter. We cannot seem to get her alone."

Harry looked at him briefly before simply muttering, "Crucio". Several seconds later he lifted the curse and the cloaked figure stood back in his spot quickly. He looked at them menacingly. There was a lot of work to be done with them, but soon, soon they would be more acceptable.

"Your duty is to make sure that you get her alone. Now listen all of you. I have no need for irresponsible and unreliable children. When you go back to that school, you all better hope that you are the one to bring her to me," he snarled at them. Harry could feel the fear that seemed to emanate from their bodies. He savored the power he held over them and a crooked, wicked smile crept across his face. They would know not to disappoint two times in a row.

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Harry woke up with a start. It was his first full dream that he was able to remember in a long time. i _'No, not a dream,'_ /i he thought to himself. Once again, he sat chilled in his room as he remembered how it felt to i _be_ /i Voldemort. And he couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy that he had put the Cruciatus curse on.

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Well, that's all for now. I'll update when I get more time! I hope you liked it! And sorry about the long author's note in the beginning. I just thought it necessary since I haven't updated in a while.


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